Landscape with Water 1878

Curator: This is Benjamin Champney's "Landscape with Water," a graphite drawing with unknown date housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. It's quite small, only about 14.5 by 21.5 centimeters. My first thought is quiet contemplation. Editor: The delicate pencil work indeed cultivates a sense of stillness, but I'm also thinking about artistic labor during Champney's era and how landscape drawings could serve as studies for larger, more "important" paintings. What does it mean that this preparatory drawing survives? Curator: Precisely! The very existence of this sketch challenges a strict hierarchy between the sketch and the finished painting. I wonder about Champney's access to materials, the labor involved in procuring the paper and graphite, and how that labor is embedded in the final product. Editor: And where might this landscape be? Could it be a reflection on the encroachment of industrialization on nature during the 19th century? Is this quiet scene a longing for a simpler time, a visual resistance against rapid change? Curator: It's fascinating how this humble drawing opens up questions about materials, production, and even social commentary. Editor: Absolutely. It allows us to consider art's potential as a voice for both the artist and the broader social movements of their time.