Landscape with Building 19th-20th century

Editor: Here we have Denman Waldo Ross’s "Landscape with Building," a small pencil sketch housed at the Harvard Art Museums. The composition feels very stark, almost skeletal. What strikes you about the piece? Curator: The power of this piece resides in its linear structure. Note the artist's use of delicate, almost tentative, lines to define form and space. How do the lines interact to create depth and volume? Editor: I see how the fainter lines suggest distance, and the bolder ones bring the building forward. Is that intentional? Curator: Precisely. Ross masterfully employs line weight to articulate the relationship between the building and its surrounding environment. Consider the architectural forms; how do they contrast with the natural landscape? Editor: It's like a ghost of a building, barely there. Curator: Indeed, a testament to the expressive potential of minimal means.