Notitie 1870 - 1931

Editor: This is "Notitie," a watercolor and pencil drawing on paper by Willem Bastiaan Tholen, created sometime between 1870 and 1931. It's…mostly blank. Just the barest whisper of color. What are we meant to see here? Curator: Exactly! What does it mean to present absence? Consider Tholen's context. He worked during a time of rapid industrialization in the Netherlands. Artists were grappling with representing a changing world, with all its attendant social and environmental issues. Could this 'Notitie,' this seemingly empty page, be a commentary on erasure? What is being noted here by being left unsaid? Editor: Erasure? Like what is being left out of the dominant narratives? Curator: Precisely! Who wasn't being represented? Whose stories weren’t being told? Was Tholen deliberately confronting a Dutch tradition of landscape painting that often ignored the realities of marginalized communities? Remember that the late 19th century was a time of growing social unrest, labor movements and suffrage campaigns, and burgeoning calls for societal equality. Consider how landscape has often functioned as a visual expression of ownership and power. Editor: So, the emptiness isn't just emptiness; it’s a statement. A subtle but potent one. Curator: Indeed. Perhaps it challenges us to acknowledge the unacknowledged, to seek out the narratives deliberately left out of the frame. Or even the absence of indigenous knowledge or historical exploitation embedded in idyllic scenery, asking us to question how landscapes were being portrayed in this period and whose realities are overshadowed. Editor: I see it so differently now! This 'Notitie' is more than a blank page. Curator: Absolutely! And, in questioning, hopefully we push for inclusivity in all aspects of the narrative.