Carriage in a Storm 

Editor: We’re looking at "Carriage in a Storm," an oil painting, possibly tempera, attributed to Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky. The scene is incredibly turbulent; the wind whips at the trees, and rain seems to obliterate the background. I wonder, what are your thoughts when you see this painting? Curator: The furious brushstrokes portraying wind and rain draw my attention to Aivazovsky's materials. Think about the accessibility of oil paint at the time, and who this scene *really* caters to? Do you see how he uses dramatic weather not as mere spectacle, but to highlight the precarity of travel and trade, the carriage seemingly at the mercy of the elements? It makes you consider who controls the means of mobility, and at what cost, doesn’t it? Editor: It does! I hadn't thought about the social aspect of simply getting from one place to another in a landscape like this. The materials really dictated the experience. Curator: Precisely! The materiality and mode of conveyance become powerful signifiers of class and capability here. We see not just a romantic landscape, but the infrastructure and labor required to overcome such dramatic conditions. How is the light, almost religiously sublime in effect, in direct contrast to the potential horrors of what could come? Editor: That makes so much sense. The divine light also illuminates the hard labor that this landscape and scene imply, maybe. Curator: Exactly. And what of the horses, the coachmen? These elements all rely on the specific use and presentation of these available, crucial, materials and persons. Editor: I see the painting in a new light now, pun intended! I initially saw a storm, but it’s really about systems and the relationship between people and their world. Curator: Indeed. The sublime spectacle cloaks deeper questions of social and material power.