Rural scene with children 1830

Curator: This is Peter Fendi's watercolor, "Rural scene with children", created around 1830. Editor: It feels wistful, doesn't it? The colors are muted, and that building looks so worn, yet the scene is alive with children—there is this really tender contrast between decay and blossoming life. Curator: Absolutely. Considering its origins in early 19th century Vienna, and watercolor's associations with immediacy, it seems Fendi aimed to capture a particular moment in the lives of rural dwellers, possibly influenced by the economic situations that caused many people in the countryside to struggle to get by. It also reflects Romanticism’s focus on everyday life and genre scenes. Editor: It also feels deliberately unfinished, perhaps highlighting a sense of continuous creation and work in everyday life; everything is ephemeral, but people, the children, remain the main part of the image. Even with everything going on. Curator: We might consider the cultural status of watercolor as well; at this time, the associations between this medium and "feminine amateurism" made many artists seek new ways to use watercolor, moving past traditional techniques and ideas. In many ways, we might see the painting as elevating the quotidian struggles of childhood and the art used to represent them. Editor: I also imagine this rural scene full of sounds, echoes, the laughter of children that the house might hold in its dilapidated architecture; it tells a story about these kids, their laughter, a universal picture even for us. Curator: Exactly. Through the seemingly simple medium and its presentation, we gain access to specific lived experiences that Fendi is bringing attention to. He really challenged preconceived boundaries. Editor: The image is now speaking to me more than it initially did, It’s almost as if it’s saying, 'look closer, feel deeper’ or ‘things aren’t always as they seem’…. Curator: Agreed. These simple moments reflected on material processes show something unique.