This Institution, This Team 

Curator: Looking at this landscape, I immediately feel a sense of calm, a tranquil space. The textures seem rich and almost tactile, especially in the foreground. Editor: That's quite a fitting reaction. What we have here is an oil painting, sometimes referred to as "This Institution, This Team," and while its exact date is unknown, the artist, Granville Redmond, painted this with what seems to be a plein-air and impressionistic technique. Curator: The field of poppies at the front practically vibrates with color. I’m interested in how that vibrancy contrasts with the almost melancholic blues of the mountains in the distance. Is there a symbolic weight to that, perhaps contrasting ideas of vitality and solemnity? Editor: Redmond’s work often explores those dualities. As an artist deeply involved with social issues, including advocating for deaf education, it's worth thinking about how those lower and upper parts represent communication with vibrancy but the upper part suggests inaccessibility. It's also important to consider the artistic and social institutions during that period of time and the lack of communication between parts of our society. Curator: It’s curious to me that Redmond might connect social issues with imagery from landscape—it makes the institution appear less as physical buildings and more like forces of nature and therefore something inherent to American life. Editor: Indeed. Consider, for example, that plein-air painting was not simply about capturing light; it became about engaging with the changing landscape amid rapid urbanization and immigration in the early 20th century. Landscapes carry symbolic significance—think of the "American Frontier," an artistic, historical, and social concept which carried much social weight. I suspect, considering this socio-historical context, the flowers can represent social classes and social movements of people, each colorful yet occupying its space in competition and cohesion to create one greater image of diversity. Curator: This provides such insight. That helps me understand why I also get the idea of potential. It's more than a field; it feels like a possibility, especially if that relates to the history of openness, communication, and diversity. Editor: Exactly! And Redmond brings us into a space that's both beautiful and complex, encouraging us to reflect on the natural forces shaping society as well. Curator: Thinking about the painting again, I see the whole thing as more of a symbolic vision than a literal representation of an institution or a team. Editor: Precisely! It allows us to interpret images with history. I really was taken by Redmond's blending of visual and social ideas into a powerful statement.