The Valley c. 19th century

Editor: This is "The Valley" by Edward Goodall. It’s a small, detailed print, and I’m struck by how much it seems to romanticize rural life. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I notice the contrast between the depicted idyllic valley and the material reality of its making. Consider the labor involved in creating the printing plate, the paper production, the distribution networks. How does this idealized scene obscure the material processes that brought it into being, and for whose consumption? Editor: That’s fascinating. I never considered the labor behind the image itself. It really changes how I see it. Curator: Indeed. By understanding the means of production, we can question the very notion of the picturesque and its relationship to power and social structures.