West Front, Westminster Abbey by Joseph Pennell

West Front, Westminster Abbey

1903

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Artwork details

Location
Harvard Art Museums
Copyright
CC0 1.0

About this artwork

Editor: Here we have Joseph Pennell's "West Front, Westminster Abbey." It’s this hazy, almost dreamlike depiction. The etching gives it such a ghostly feel. How do you interpret this work? Curator: For me, it evokes the feeling of memory, perhaps a half-remembered visit. It's as though Pennell aimed to capture not just the building, but the very sensation of experiencing it. It makes you wonder, doesn't it, about the ephemerality of our own encounters with grand structures? Editor: That's lovely! It really does feel like a fleeting impression. Curator: Exactly, it’s a dance between the concrete and the intangible. Editor: I never considered it that way. Thanks!

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