Toltec Gorge and Eva Cliff from the West, Colorado 1892

Thomas Moran made this watercolor and graphite rendering of Toltec Gorge and Eva Cliff in Colorado. Look at the way he’s built the composition through the careful application of washes, allowing the tones to pool and blend. See how the pencil work subtly reinforces the texture of the rock. It’s a relatively fast and direct process – certainly when compared to oil painting, which was Moran’s primary medium. There’s a directness here, a sense of capturing the scene with immediacy. The landscape itself, with its dramatic rock formations, is a testament to geological forces and the slow work of time. Moran’s quick hand, in contrast, makes this location newly accessible. His art was harnessed to the expansion of the American West, both celebrating its majestic beauty and promoting settlement by new migrants. So, think about the dialogue between geological time, the time it took Moran to make this image, and the social and political forces that give the work its full resonance.