A Wooded Hill Top, with Thunder Clouds 

Curator: Alexander Cozens gives us, in "A Wooded Hill Top, with Thunder Clouds", a wash drawing where the impending storm feels almost… theatrical. Editor: The texture alone grabs me – that laid paper practically vibrates under the thin washes of ink. It's almost as if the materials themselves are staging the drama. Curator: Exactly! Cozens really captures the sublime, that feeling of awe mixed with terror, which was so popular at the time. Editor: And yet, the means are so simple. It's brown ink, paper, and the suggestion of a landscape made from the tension between them. He’s playing with how little it takes to evoke a powerful mood. Curator: Perhaps that’s why it lingers in the mind, like a half-remembered dream before a storm breaks. Editor: A dream built on very material foundations, of course. Cozens reminds us that even the most ephemeral experiences are grounded in the physical world.