Buste van een vrouw c. 1901 - 1927

This sketch of a woman's bust was made by Johan Antonie de Jonge, a Dutch artist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The seemingly informal nature of this sketch offers an interesting window into the artist’s creative process and the wider culture of art education at the time. In art academies across Europe, drawing was seen as foundational, and sketching was an essential practice. These institutions shaped artistic production by creating hierarchies of skill and value, often prioritizing detailed realism and technical virtuosity. Yet, this sketch seems to resist such expectations, hinting at a progressive impulse. Was De Jonge using the sketch as a space to question those same academic conventions? To explore such questions, we might consult archival materials from Dutch art academies, exhibition reviews from the period, and even De Jonge’s own writings, if they exist. Ultimately, such research reminds us that artworks like this one are not created in a vacuum, but are deeply embedded in specific social and institutional contexts.