The Pass of Faido 1845

Curator: This is John Ruskin's "The Pass of Faido," held here at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a watercolor and pencil work. Editor: It feels…immediate. Like a memory sketched in haste. Somber, but with that flash of the water cutting through. Curator: Ruskin was deeply invested in the relationship between art, nature, and social critique. His detailed landscape studies were part of a broader project to understand geological and social forces. Editor: Right, it's not just pretty scenery. There's a melancholy here, perhaps reflecting Ruskin's anxieties about industrialization transforming the landscape. Like he's trying to catch the last glimpse of something wild before it vanishes. Curator: Precisely. Ruskin's work can be read as a resistance to the Enlightenment's rationalization of nature, a call for a more ethical and aesthetic engagement with our environment. Editor: So, it's not just about painting a mountain; it's about understanding our place in relation to it. Gives you pause, doesn't it? Curator: It does. Ruskin’s vision remains urgent in our present moment of ecological crisis. Editor: Makes you want to grab your own sketchbook and try to capture that feeling.