Rocky Cliff 

Editor: This is "Rocky Cliff" by Asher Brown Durand, created with oil paints, seemingly *en plein air*. It feels like a real celebration of the earth and all its textures. What are your initial thoughts on this artwork? Curator: I am drawn to Durand’s acute attention to the layering of material processes. Look at how he renders the different densities within the rock strata itself, achieved through a layering of paint, mimicking the geological processes that created the cliff over eons. Editor: Yes, I also notice the moss and plant life clinging to the rocks! Curator: Exactly! The juxtaposition of the 'eternal' rock formation with the ephemeral plant life is no accident. Consider what role natural resources were playing in this nation’s self-image during the rise of industrial capitalism. Where do you see those ideas surfacing? Editor: Hmm, perhaps the artist is subtly acknowledging both the enduring presence of nature and the way it's being transformed – even exploited – by human activity. The painting process mimics both geological layering, and extractive processes. Curator: Precisely! The very act of plein-air painting, taking the studio outside, democratizes art making. It acknowledges labor. How can painting become part of the American cultural fabric? Durand gives us clues. Editor: This makes me reconsider the tradition of landscape art. Instead of just pretty scenery, it becomes a commentary on labor and material transformations. I'll never see landscapes the same way again! Curator: That’s the beauty of materialist analysis; it pushes us beyond aesthetics to see the social forces at play.