A new method of assisting the invention in drawing original compositions of landscape Pl.02
1785
Alexander Cozens created these dramatic, ink-blot landscapes as a creative hack for 18th-century artists struggling with the dreaded blank page. By dropping random ink blots onto paper and then refining the shapes into craggy mountains and looming trees, he believed anyone could unlock their imagination. This specific plate, marked with a tiny '2' in the corner, looks like a moody, misty mountain range waiting to be fully realized. His 'blot method' was essentially the 1700s equivalent of a Rorschach test, predating abstract expressionism by over a century and proving that sometimes the best ideas come from a happy accident.
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