Landscape 1982

Curator: This is Elena Prentice's small watercolor, simply titled "Landscape," housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: It's evocative. The washes of grey and blue suggest a hazy atmosphere, but the ruled lines interrupt any romantic reading. Curator: Indeed. Consider the notebook format itself. It demystifies the artistic process. It wasn't meant for grand display, but quiet, personal study. Editor: The transparency of watercolor feels appropriate here—the labor isn't hidden. You can see the paper texture right through the paint. Curator: It's interesting to consider how the museum setting transforms something so intimate into a public object of contemplation. Editor: And yet, the materiality—the humble sketchbook—grounds it. Makes it feel accessible, a reminder that art making is, at its core, a practice. Curator: A practice we can appreciate both for its formal qualities and its quiet place within a larger artistic journey. Editor: Exactly. It's a study in process, not just a landscape.