Study for San Francisco, center left section 1855 - 1856

Curator: Well, let's dive in. This is Charles Meryon’s "Study for San Francisco, center left section," created around 1855-1856. It's a graphite drawing and print on paper, here at the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: My initial thought? Faint. Almost ghostly. Like looking at San Francisco through a veil, or maybe through time itself. There’s something really ethereal about it, even if it's just a preliminary study. Curator: It’s interesting you use the word "ghostly," because that speaks to Meryon's larger project. While appearing to just depict a cityscape, we should be aware of how Meryon’s artistic approach often layered commentary on societal transformations, political unrest, and the overall human condition within these urban scenes. It makes one wonder, what aspects of the 1850s San Francisco would he want to emphasize or critique? Editor: Right? The city itself seems sketched in, like a dream half-remembered. But the details—the faint suggestions of buildings and streets—they whisper stories, don't they? Makes me want to walk those phantom streets and eavesdrop on history. Curator: Absolutely. Thinking about that historical moment, the Gold Rush and rapid urbanization of San Francisco were fundamentally reshaping Californian society, especially in terms of race, class, and environmental impact. What seems like a straightforward city scene, could be read as engaging themes of dispossession and change that shaped that very society. Editor: I can feel that underlying tension now. It's not just a pretty picture, is it? It’s got teeth. The delicate lines almost belie the weight of what they're hinting at. And, artistically, what do we know about Meryon’s process? He looks to have created a layered work using different paper and underpainting, right? Curator: He was known for working and reworking surfaces. It emphasizes this feeling of building a city, in both the literal and figurative sense, atop of other older places. Editor: It certainly speaks to the artist's intention in presenting something raw but also refined. It definitely lends it to an atmosphere of transformation, maybe even an uncertainty. It definitely moved me to view San Francisco differently. Curator: Indeed. It also challenges us to look critically at how landscapes, even seemingly simple ones, carry profound historical and social narratives within their depictions.