Dry Brook 1888

Editor: Here we have Jervis McEntee’s "Dry Brook," a pencil drawing from 1888. There's a delicate, almost ghostly quality to it, this rendering of bare trees. It seems very quiet, almost melancholic. What do you make of this piece? Curator: The materiality here is crucial. Think about the labour involved in both the making of the pencil and the application of graphite to paper. Graphite, itself a product of extraction and industry, becomes the means to depict a landscape presumably impacted by that very industry. The "Dry Brook" could be seen as a subtle commentary on resource depletion. Editor: That’s interesting. I was mostly focused on the aesthetic aspect, but I see your point about the pencil itself. How does this connect to the Hudson River School? I always thought of them as celebrating untouched nature. Curator: The Hudson River School is more complex than just celebrating untouched nature. McEntee, though associated, often introduced elements of melancholy and social commentary. Consider the “Dry Brook”. It's not a roaring river of pristine wilderness, it is "Dry", perhaps a subtle critique on the encroachment of industry and agriculture and the environmental and material impact of the growing industry. The industrial extraction processes made possible the pencil that allows McEntee to capture the depletion. Editor: So, the very medium undermines the idealized vision? I never considered that aspect before, the implicit labor behind its creation. Curator: Precisely! McEntee used readily available materials to capture these feelings about a quickly changing society. We often overlook the processes of making. Looking at these details of material creation and consumption opens new lines of inquiry when experiencing this image. Editor: That really reframes how I see this drawing. I’ll definitely pay more attention to the "how" and "why" of material choices in art. Curator: Likewise. Thinking through the lens of how materials and consumption come together for McEntee helps inform our modern approaches to making as well!