The Cross in the Wilderness c. 1844

Editor: Here we have Thomas Cole's "The Cross in the Wilderness," made around 1844, utilizing pencil, graphite, and watercolors. I'm really struck by how… ethereal it feels. Like a memory or a vision. What do you see in this piece? Curator: For me, Cole's work often serves as a potent intersection of landscape, identity, and the fraught narratives of colonial expansion. This "Wilderness" isn't an empty space, right? It is a contested territory, and the cross – a symbol laden with historical violence – cannot be separated from the narratives of dispossession. Editor: So, it's not just a peaceful religious image, but a commentary on colonialism? Curator: Exactly! Consider the Romanticism movement: It often idealizes nature, yet it can also whitewash the realities of Indigenous erasure that coincided with westward expansion. Who has access to this sublime, "untouched" wilderness, and at what cost? That solitary figure at the cross—are they praying, or perhaps mourning something lost? Editor: I hadn't considered that. I was mainly focused on the sort of glowing light in the background and how it contrasts with the darker foreground. Curator: That light is definitely powerful, perhaps suggesting divine presence or "manifest destiny". Yet, by acknowledging the shadows – the darker aspects of history – we gain a deeper understanding of the complex power dynamics at play in Cole's America. It prompts us to critically engage with landscape art, questioning whose stories are privileged and whose are silenced. Editor: I guess it’s a reminder that even seemingly peaceful landscapes can be battlegrounds of ideology and cultural narratives. Curator: Precisely. Cole’s drawing gives us this complex vision; it invites us to contemplate the intertwined relationships of place, identity, and power that continue to shape our world today. Editor: Well, I will definitely not look at a landscape in the same way. Thanks so much for sharing!