Grand Canyon from Hermit Rim Road 

Editor: So, this is "Grand Canyon from Hermit Rim Road" by Thomas Moran, and though the date is unknown, it's clearly an oil painting done en plein-air. I’m immediately struck by how…manufactured the scene seems. It's like a stage set. What stands out to you? Curator: It’s interesting that you use the word "manufactured." For me, the emphasis on the 'plein-air' aspect and the materiality of the oil paint itself highlights the labor involved in creating this romantic vision. Think about the physical act of transporting materials, setting up an easel amidst that landscape... it disrupts the sublime, doesn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. It reminds me that someone had to haul all those supplies out there and physically create the image we’re seeing, this…idealized view of the Grand Canyon. Curator: Exactly. And consider the consumption aspect. Paintings like this, reproduced widely, fueled tourism and even justified westward expansion. The materials become implicated in a larger story about resource extraction and the commodification of the landscape. Were the companies commissioning and purchasing similar pieces like this using them to actively push westward expansion, or create tourism? Editor: I hadn't considered the role it plays in shaping public opinion about westward expansion. So, what was once considered untouched wilderness quickly became a destination, a resource, and something to be possessed. It really challenges this idea of nature as separate from commerce. Curator: Precisely. And the way Moran handles the oil paint—layering and blending—attempts to capture the ‘truth’ of the canyon but is really an interpretation shaped by artistic conventions and, frankly, market demands. The materiality betrays the myth. Editor: That's such a powerful point. The choice of material—oil paint in this case— is very intentional in the process of commodification. I’ll definitely look at these landscapes differently now! Curator: And that’s the point. Thinking materially lets us unpack layers of meaning often hidden within seemingly straightforward landscape paintings.