Schetsblad met koppen en overgevende man 1869 - 1870

Editor: Here we have "Schetsblad met koppen en overgevende man" – Sketch sheet with heads and a vomiting man – by Johannes Tavenraat, created sometime between 1869 and 1870. It looks like it's ink and pencil on paper. I'm immediately drawn to the range of characters depicted and the… well, let's say, visceral honesty. What strikes you about it? Curator: The piece compels me to consider the artist’s studio practice and the availability – or scarcity – of materials. Why use a sheet already printed with text? Was paper a precious commodity? And how does this upcycling inform the work's meaning? Does the superimposition create a dialogue between the printed text, perhaps mass produced, and these very individual character sketches? Editor: That's interesting, I hadn't even noticed the underlying text at first glance. Curator: Indeed! And what about the vomiting man? Is this a comment on societal excess, on the grotesque realities hidden beneath a veneer of respectability? It's all rendered with such immediate, almost frantic lines, implying perhaps a rapid, uninhibited creation process. Are these people Tavenraat saw in his everyday life and quickly recorded in his notebook? Editor: I suppose focusing on those material questions opens up the way we understand his intentions as an artist, right? Thinking about his labor differently from a more traditional artist using classical methods and tools makes you re-evaluate what you think is "art." Curator: Precisely! It invites us to rethink the hierarchy between "high" art and everyday craft, labor, and consumption. Editor: I’ll definitely keep that in mind as I keep learning about art history! Thanks for your insights! Curator: My pleasure. It is through the analysis of the materiality that we may find the real gold in such works.