A Pool among Rocks. Sketching Club 1802

Curator: This is "A Pool among Rocks" by Paul Sandby Munn. Editor: The monochromatic wash creates such a somber, almost melancholic mood. Curator: Munn, born in 1773, was part of a sketching club; his works reflect the picturesque movement, framing nature in ways that evoke specific emotional responses. How do class dynamics play into these constructed landscapes? Editor: I'm curious about the paper itself. Its texture seems to have really guided the wash, creating these gradations and shadows. Curator: The act of landscape sketching itself was bound up with ideas of ownership and cultivation. The rural idealized was largely constructed for consumption. Editor: True, and how the availability of paper and pigments impacted who could even participate in this practice. It makes you wonder about Munn’s own relationship to the materials at hand. Curator: Exactly. It's a beautiful piece, yet fraught with the politics of its time. Editor: An intriguing intersection of artistic expression and societal context.