Large Tree 1919

Curator: Julio Gonzalez created this pastel drawing, "Large Tree," around 1919, and it certainly invites us to reflect on nature’s role in early 20th-century society. Editor: It feels more intimate than grand, despite the title. The scale is domestic, almost like a study. I'm drawn to the texture of the pastel. Curator: Absolutely. You can see how the pastel allows him to build up layers, creating density in the leaves and a palpable surface. The physical act of layering mirrors ecological processes. Editor: And the muted color palette – the greens, blues, and earthy browns – evokes a sense of melancholy, perhaps commenting on the relationship between pastoral life and the impending social upheaval of the era. Curator: Considering Gonzalez's later embrace of industrial materials like iron, this early work feels like a deliberate engagement with traditional art materials and subject matter before his shift towards modernist sculpture. Editor: This drawing, in that context, becomes more poignant, a last glimpse of a vanishing world before the rise of the machine age forever altered our relationship to the land.