Bebouwing, mogelijk langs het water 1886 - 1898

Editor: This is "Bebouwing, mogelijk langs het water," or "Buildings, possibly along the water," by George Hendrik Breitner, sketched sometime between 1886 and 1898, using pencil and pen and ink. It looks like a page torn straight from the artist’s sketchbook. What’s interesting about showing something so clearly a work in progress? Curator: For me, the rough quality points to the very means of artistic production. We see Breitner wrestling with the cityscape. Look at the repetitive lines. It’s less about capturing a specific picturesque view and more about his process of understanding the urban environment through mark-making. The use of such inexpensive materials, a simple sketchbook and readily available pencil and ink, further emphasizes this everyday quality. Editor: So, you're suggesting that it's about demystifying the act of creation, the artist's labor made visible? Curator: Exactly! Consider the social context: Breitner was known for documenting the working classes in Amsterdam. Doesn’t presenting this as a raw sketch, devoid of embellishment, also reflect an honest, unvarnished view of the city’s development and perhaps the labor involved? How different is this approach than other landscape paintings? Editor: True, a typical landscape would conceal the artistic process. This, instead, makes you think about the physical act of drawing, the hand moving across the page. The mass production of paper at the time surely allowed for this type of free, almost disposable, artistic exploration. Curator: Precisely. And by exhibiting a piece like this, we prompt viewers to consider not just the finished product but also the very materials and processes that underpin artistic creation. It invites critical engagement with the art world's own labor practices. Editor: I never really considered how materials shape meaning. Thanks! Curator: It changes how we value the artwork, doesn't it? It stops being precious, and instead becomes about use and access.