Highland Light - Cape Cod c. 1943

Curator: What do you think of Hoyt Howard’s “Highland Light - Cape Cod,” circa 1943, a watercolor print? Editor: It’s quite striking, isn’t it? The scene has a kind of simplified, graphic feel that’s very appealing. It gives me a sense of calm, almost like a postcard from another era. What catches your eye when you look at it? Curator: For me, it’s about considering how this image would have been made and circulated. This is a print, a multiple. We need to remember the role that such images played in shaping perceptions of American identity and place during that period. The materials, watercolor and printmaking, would have had their own associations too - the accessibility of watercolor, versus the connotations of industrial process. How does that tension work in the image? Editor: That's interesting – considering it not just as a landscape, but as a product. Do you think the print medium changes how we view the lighthouse itself? Curator: Absolutely. It democratizes it. The lighthouse, often seen as a symbol of maritime power and exclusivity, is rendered reproducible, available. The method makes it less an individual work, more a commodity representing the idea of “Cape Cod.” Think about the colors as well. Watercolors offer themselves easily, but these shades – pale blues, pinkish sands – they are a manufactured nature. Editor: So, it’s almost a curated vision of New England. Something produced for consumption? Curator: Precisely. How labor intensive do you think a print like this would have been? Every decision contributes to a market that reinforces romantic and consumable American vistas, particularly during a time of immense social and economic change. Editor: I hadn’t considered it that way before. It's fascinating to think about the layers of meaning embedded in the materials and production of something seemingly simple. Curator: Indeed! The seemingly effortless aesthetic conceals a complex set of industrial and social relations at work.