Staff Pick | Monthly Muse February 2021

This pastel drawing holds my gaze. It’s as if the artist was counting on the human urge that renders us incapable of averting our eyes from a disastrous scene. Through this act of observation, I become one of the bystanders—looking on as the house is devoured by flames and engulfed in a billowing cloud of black smoke. I am helplessly frozen in place, in awe of the unstoppable force of nature. Yet beyond this terrible scene, and in contrast, is another spectacular natural event on which my eyes can’t help but linger—a striking and vibrant sky.

Chanelle Mandell
Associate Museum Registrar, Langson IMCA