Wet Windscreen, Ramsgate Harbour c. 1971

Editor: This is "Wet Windscreen, Ramsgate Harbour" by Roland Vivian Pitchforth. It's a watercolour showing a harbour scene through a rain-streaked window. I find the raindrops quite striking. What's your take on it? Curator: Look closely. The window isn't just a passive surface; it's a manufactured division. How does that affect our perception of the labor involved in both producing this view and in the making of the artwork itself? Editor: So, you're saying the painting highlights a divide between the viewer and the subject through the material reality of the windscreen? Curator: Precisely. Consider the social implications. Is it a barrier? A filter? The means of observing the harbor from a place of interior comfort? Editor: I see, the use of the windscreen prompts a deeper consideration of the artist's perspective and the materials used to make it. Thanks. Curator: Indeed, viewing art through the lens of materiality reveals how artworks function as social objects.