Four Trees, a Hill Beyond. A Blot 

Curator: Here we have Alexander Cozens' "Four Trees, a Hill Beyond. A Blot," a small landscape drawing held within the Tate Collections. Editor: It feels both immediate and distant, a memory of a landscape rather than a depiction. The brown ink creates this hazy, almost melancholic mood. Curator: Cozens was quite innovative in his approach; he actually used ink blots as a starting point for his landscapes, encouraging the viewer to participate in the creative process. This particular work exemplifies his ideas about landscape composition. Editor: I wonder if that open invitation was also accessible to women artists, or people from lower classes who usually were excluded from the art world. I am curious about whose vision was being validated here. Curator: That's a great question and shows that the art world can be more inclusive. Cozens influenced Romantic landscape painting, which became a really popular genre in British art, shaping our view of the English countryside. Editor: Thinking about it that way, it's interesting how seemingly neutral landscapes can actually carry so much cultural weight.