Plate 3 c. 1785

Curator: Looking at this image, I’m struck by how stark and dramatic it is, like a dreamscape of mountains. Editor: Indeed. What we have here is "Plate 3" by Alexander Cozens, part of a series of landscape studies. Cozens, who lived from 1717 to 1786, used a method he called "blotting" to inspire landscape compositions. Curator: Blotting, you say? It looks almost like the Rorschach test of landscape art. You see a mountain, I see the potential for infinite mountains. It feels like the beginning of something. Editor: That's insightful. Cozens believed these blots could unlock the imagination, offering raw material for artists. The mountain, a classic symbol of aspiration and challenge, emerges from the amorphous. Curator: Absolutely, there’s such a tension between the defined peak and the almost chaotic base. It's the struggle to find form, to reach clarity from a murky beginning. Editor: The white space, almost overwhelming, reinforces this. It's the void from which creation springs, a blank canvas filled with potential. Curator: Looking at "Plate 3," I am reminded that every landscape, internal or external, begins with such ambiguity. Editor: And I am reminded of how symbols resonate across time, constantly reinterpreted, yet eternally powerful.