Mountains 19th-20th century

Curator: This is Denman Waldo Ross's "Mountains," housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. It strikes me immediately as a study in cool tones—a tranquil landscape rendered in watercolor. Editor: Tranquil, perhaps, but I see something more. The power of the mountains against the smallness of the structures at the base. It speaks to themes of scale and human impact. Curator: The artist's focus seems primarily on the interplay of light and shadow across the peaks. Note the almost impressionistic brushstrokes that define form. Editor: But what about the politics of landscape? Whose land is this? Who gets to represent it? Ross's view is almost certainly from a privileged, outsider perspective. Curator: A valid point, yet the painting itself offers a masterclass in compositional balance. The layering, the subtle shifts in hue. Editor: Perhaps. But art doesn't exist in a vacuum. It reflects and reinforces power structures, consciously or not. Curator: I appreciate the different lens through which you analyze this work. Editor: And I find your analysis of pure form useful too, if incomplete.