Lake George c. 1850s - 1860s

Curator: What a delicate scene! Richard William Hubbard rendered this landscape of "Lake George" sometime in the 1850s or 60s using pencil, exhibiting the grace that made the Hudson River School so famous. Editor: It looks almost like a dream. So muted and soft, you can practically smell the damp earth and pine needles. Curator: Notice how the dark foreground of tangled trees and rocky outcrops frames the more distant view. It creates a kind of visual embrace. In landscapes like this, that embrace could stand for more than just the placement of nature; It reflects a wider romanticism about nature, seen in literature and poetry of the time. Editor: I think the small figures perched on that rock contribute to the wistful tone, don’t you? They're like Adam and his son in their Edenic space after being cast out to wander the woods and wilds. Curator: Certainly. And that points toward the way light and shade function symbolically. The figures sit almost at the limit of the shading of the woods, positioned precisely where sunlight touches land. It invokes ideas around potential and opportunity. Hubbard implies an innocence in our curiosity that may bring us enlightenment. Editor: You know, it's interesting to think about how we idealize this era, but seeing the sheer amount of labor done with hand tools makes it really strike me to find such a meditative experience within its products. It's an artwork full of contemplation. Curator: Agreed. In a way, Hubbard captures the feeling of an entire era in this single pencil drawing. He gives us a vision of pristine American landscapes—which can sometimes carry a heavy silence given what the pursuit of it was founded on. Editor: Precisely, a testament of reflection, even in simpler drawings like these. Curator: Exactly. It provides so much in this simple graphite and light. Editor: Well put!