Landscape with Water 1878

Curator: This is Benjamin Champney’s "Landscape with Water," currently residing here at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a delicate pencil drawing, a mere 14.5 by 21.5 centimeters. Editor: It feels like a whispered memory, doesn't it? The barest suggestion of a landscape, fading into the paper. Curator: Precisely. Notice how the mountains in the background are just suggested outlines. The artist employed a very economical use of line. Editor: The restraint is beautiful. It makes you wonder what Champney chose to leave out, what he saw that we can't. Curator: Perhaps this was a preliminary sketch, a fleeting impression captured before a larger work. Editor: Or maybe it was the final statement! The landscape stripped bare, its essence distilled. Food for thought. Curator: Indeed. An intimate glimpse into an artist's perception. Editor: And a quiet invitation for us to fill in the blanks.