Rijtuigen rond een ruiterstandbeeld 1875 - 1934

Editor: Here we have "Rijtuigen rond een ruiterstandbeeld," or "Carriages Around an Equestrian Statue" by Isaac Israels, dating from 1875 to 1934. It’s a lively, almost scribbled sketch. It’s hard to get a solid read on it. What do you see in this piece? Curator: It's interesting you use the word "scribbled," because it highlights the artist's process, which I believe reveals a crucial lens through which we can interpret this work: Israels, often associated with impressionism, captured fleeting moments, yet also critiqued the societal structures underpinning those moments. These carriages, positioned around a statue that commemorates a man on horseback, point to power, to hierarchies embedded within 19th and early 20th-century society. The loose lines – do they also convey a sense of that era’s inherent instability? Editor: Instability? How so? Curator: Think about the time period—Israels was working during an era of rapid industrialization and urbanization. There was a shifting class structure and burgeoning social movements that challenged established hierarchies. Do you see this potential tension in the way Israels depicts these symbols of status, the carriages, almost as if they are jostling for position around a figure frozen in time, an antiquated symbol of power? Editor: I see what you mean! So, instead of just a casual sketch, it's actually a commentary on the changing social dynamics of the time. Curator: Exactly! It's also about access. Who gets a statue erected in their honor? Who can afford a carriage? What perspectives are being excluded from this supposedly objective representation of urban life? Considering whose stories are visually prioritised - and whose aren’t - invites us to see this image as more than just a simple street scene. It urges us to question the very fabric of society during that period. Editor: That’s a whole different way to look at what I thought was just a quick sketch. Thank you! Curator: And thank you. Thinking through the work aloud allows us to excavate these buried tensions and gives renewed life to what might otherwise appear to be a quick drawing.