Cortlandt Street c. 20th century

Curator: This is Herman Armour Webster's "Cortlandt Street," an etching showing a bustling New York City scene. Editor: It feels like a faded memory, doesn't it? Ghostly buildings rising from a time long ago, promising something grand. Curator: The architecture looms, representing aspiration, yet the street-level activity grounds the piece in the mundane realities of commerce and daily life. Editor: I get a sense of transience. The figures below are indistinct, almost like shadows, while those buildings seem meant to last forever, but are really just a façade. Curator: Perhaps Webster is capturing the fleeting nature of human endeavor against the backdrop of enduring urban structures. A comment on progress maybe. Editor: Perhaps. Or maybe he just liked the way the light hit those buildings! But now I can’t help but see a longing for permanence in a world that’s constantly changing.