Couple taking a stroll 

Curator: Edwin Austin Abbey created this intriguing watercolor, "Couple taking a stroll." What are your initial thoughts? Editor: It has an unfinished quality, ghostly almost. The muted palette adds to the sense of a memory, perhaps fleeting, certainly delicate. The city scene gives it a temporal grounding while they are adrift. Curator: Observe the layering and transparency achieved through watercolor washes. Note how Abbey has blocked in certain elements, the coat of one figure in particular. It allows for this striking juxtaposition of the defined and ethereal. Editor: Precisely. Coats, like this figure wears, traditionally represent outward social expression. Yet, the overall treatment makes the coat look as much of a covering or constraint for the soul as the figure projects outward into the world. Do you sense that? Curator: The symbolism interests me greatly. This unfinished style prompts interpretation—the figures indistinct, becoming almost shadows of themselves. This watercolor resists a definitive reading. It’s quite modern in that sense. Editor: Yes, the faceless figures draw my attention back to how identity, in the modern era, is caught between an archetypal past and an unknowable future, don’t you agree? And that these are indeed the universal challenges we face: not being erased from existence! Curator: Considering that idea, I note how Abbey carefully renders architectural features, which may offer some structural permanence. Consider, for example, the geometry of the doorway or the stark repetition of what appear to be windows higher up. There's visual support and stability. Editor: It's true, that geometric grounding suggests the world of civic permanence, which helps explain how those in that past found themselves, in their relation to place. I imagine viewers throughout time consider their civic duty, when looking at an artwork like this. Curator: Ultimately, I believe this watercolor by Abbey provides a subtle exploration of how we visually perceive identity and relationships in pictorial space. Editor: Yes, Edwin Austin Abbey offers us not just a visual encounter, but a spectral dance, resonating across centuries—challenging, moving, and enduring.