Orizaba, Mexico 1891

Curator: Denman Waldo Ross's painting, Orizaba, Mexico, now at the Harvard Art Museums, presents a captivating scene. Editor: It feels almost… nostalgic? The colors are vibrant, but there's also this hazy, dreamlike quality to the landscape. Curator: Ross, known for his contributions to color theory, clearly experiments here with the interplay between pigment and place. The visible brushstrokes emphasize the act of painting itself. It is not just about the place but how it is materially made present to the viewer. Editor: Absolutely! I can almost feel the heat radiating from those terracotta roofs, hear the water trickling through the ravine below. It pulls you in, doesn't it? I wonder if he chose that perspective to emphasize nature reclaiming the urban space? Curator: That's a fascinating interpretation. It's also worth considering the socio-economic context. Who inhabited these spaces, what kind of labor went into building and maintaining this architecture and landscape? Editor: Right. It is so easy to forget the human element when contemplating art. Curator: Indeed. So much more to this small piece than at first meets the eye. Editor: Yes, a painting that beckons and lingers in the mind.