Hooiers 1770 - 1825

Curator: Here we have Simon Andreas Krausz’s “Hooiers,” likely created sometime between 1770 and 1825. It’s an ink drawing, a landscape but also quite figurative. Editor: My first impression is that there’s an appealing rawness here, an unvarnished look. It seems almost like a study, capturing motion with minimal strokes. The figures almost appear to be floating. Curator: Yes, a study perhaps for a larger piece. Consider the title: "Hooiers," meaning haymakers or harvesters. Look at how Krausz depicts the figures and their tools—the rakes, pitchforks. You get a sense of the labor involved. He’s observing and documenting a key element of the agrarian economy and working lives. The scale of each figure gives a weight and physicality despite the lightness of the ink. Editor: And how those tools extend beyond the bodies, influencing the entire composition! The rhythmic gestures create diagonal lines throughout the plane. The restrained use of ink heightens the sense of form while retaining transparency. Note that contrast with the heavier-rendered bodies to make a structural point. Curator: I appreciate how it brings up Romanticism as an idea. He’s idealizing the rural worker and their toil on the land but with realistic laboring detail, embedded within the cycle of the seasons. Editor: Although a simple ink drawing, "Hooiers" utilizes form and line to its best communicative purposes to tell a complex visual story. It provides movement in ways we see mimicked later in impressionist renderings. Curator: True. Thinking about labor during this period gives another layer to consider— the conditions, the economics. This makes you consider both the artist's role as observer, as well as their own role within the political sphere of art and patronage. Editor: A beautiful rendering full of action. A solid and timeless reminder of rural life and human experience. Curator: It certainly offers a peek into a world transforming even then, one where both labor and landscape hold significance.