Blank page; verso: Boat's Stern 1864

Curator: This sketch, entitled "Blank page; verso: Boat's Stern," is attributed to Sanford Robinson Gifford. It's a quick study, likely from his hand, rendered in pencil on paper. Editor: It feels so incomplete, almost ghostly. The emptiness of the paper around the boat stern makes me think of erasure, of what is absent. Curator: Interesting observation. Formally, the starkness draws attention to Gifford's economy of line. Note how few strokes define the boat's structure. The mast lines create a sort of triangular field at the top of the work. Editor: Yes, and perhaps that sparseness speaks to Gifford's positionality within a society grappling with industrial change and westward expansion. This tiny boat, hemmed in by all that blankness, feels precarious. Curator: Perhaps. Ultimately, this sketch provides us a glimpse into Gifford's process and his command of form, even in its most basic state. Editor: For me, it evokes a sense of longing. I wonder about the journeys, forced or free, that these vessels represented.