Mission Church Doorway 1940

Editor: So, here we have Harry Mann Waddell's "Mission Church Doorway," created in 1940. It's... surprisingly delicate, almost dreamlike in its rendering of such a solid, architectural subject. The colors are so muted. What captures your attention in this piece? Curator: Well, right away, I feel a strange sense of stillness, almost a melancholic beauty, which isn't quite what one expects from architectural studies, right? The texture achieved through what looks like watercolor is quite something, imbuing a solid facade with so much light and decay at once. Have you noticed how the very stone seems to breathe with the past? The artist hasn't shied away from showing the signs of age; look at that little gap in the door, such subtle imperfections... but they tell a whole story, don’t they? Editor: They really do. It almost feels like the church is holding its breath. That almost makes it even more solemn. Do you think that was Waddell's intention? Curator: Intention... ah, now there's a slippery fish. Perhaps it’s not so much about conscious intention but the way the artist felt drawn to interpret it. Maybe Waddell wasn’t necessarily trying to tell a specific story, but capturing an emotional echo - the subtle passage of time as we know it in life? After all, artists are translating feeling as much as they are depicting places. What do you make of the fact that there is no context other than the doorway? Editor: It gives all the focus to this single portal...It almost feels like we are on the verge of a new beginning or the end of times? Maybe it also conveys the message that it doesn't matter how long the door stands for; everyone eventually has to cross the doorway one way or another. Curator: I love that! End of times indeed… such thoughts... perhaps that is precisely what he wanted you to experience. A beautiful ruin imbued with hope and solemn expectations of things to come, but that lives through you and through this watercolor today. What a testament to the passage of time!