View of a Mountain [verso] 

Editor: This is "View of a Mountain," a pencil drawing by Jasper Francis Cropsey, presumably from the Hudson River School. It has this wonderfully subtle, almost ghost-like quality to it. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: I see a trace. A delicate act of recording, but also an echo of something far more complex. The Hudson River School, on the surface, celebrated the American landscape, but we need to remember that this landscape was, and is, deeply entangled with settler colonialism and Manifest Destiny. How can we view these renderings of 'untouched' nature when they obscure Indigenous presence and claim ownership? Editor: That's a perspective I hadn't considered. It definitely reframes my understanding of the image and of the entire Hudson River School movement. Is Cropsey complicit in this erasure, do you think? Curator: I believe it's unavoidable within the context of his time. These artists were products of a society that glorified westward expansion without acknowledging its violent consequences. While his intention might have been to capture beauty, the artwork inadvertently participates in a narrative that legitimizes dispossession. Look at the emptiness, the 'unclaimed' space of the drawing: who exactly is claiming it, and for whom? Editor: So, you’re suggesting that even landscape art isn't neutral; that it reflects the dominant power structures of its time? Curator: Absolutely. Art never exists in a vacuum. Considering Cropsey’s work through this lens encourages a critical dialogue about the politics of landscape representation and its implications for understanding our history, even today. The light, airy quality, you mentioned becomes heavy, laden with unspoken narratives. Editor: That's given me so much to think about. I'm now realizing how crucial it is to question what's *not* being shown in an artwork, not just what is. Curator: Exactly. This process pushes us to grapple with the full story.