Rocky Landscape; verso: Partial Landscape 1864

Editor: Here we have "Rocky Landscape; verso: Partial Landscape" by Sanford Robinson Gifford, created sometime in the 19th century. It looks like a spread from a sketchbook. What strikes me is its raw, unfinished quality. What stories do you think these sketches tell? Curator: I see a commentary on westward expansion. Gifford, a Hudson River School painter, was capturing the "untouched" American landscape. But whose landscape was it, really? These rapid sketches belie the dispossession of Indigenous peoples, essential to that expansion. What do you see in his quick strokes? Editor: I guess I hadn’t thought of it that way. They seemed innocent, but I see your point. The land was already inhabited and these drawings are part of a larger narrative. Curator: Exactly. Art isn't created in a vacuum. Considering the historical context deepens our understanding, don't you think?