Man die staand op een trap een doek beschilderd 1869 - 1936

Curator: Look at this drawing, simply titled “Man Standing on a Ladder Painting a Canvas,” attributed to Theodorus Henricus Kerstel and created sometime between 1869 and 1936. It’s currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first thought? It feels like a backstage pass to the artistic mind. It's so intimate, so immediate. He's on a ladder, for heaven's sake! It has a whimsical, almost chaotic energy, doesn’t it? Curator: It’s quite intriguing. Considering the era, Kerstel's decision to depict an artist actively engaged in the creative process is very relevant, isn’t it? It’s about the labour involved, but also the cultural position of an artist within society. He is not presenting the polished result but hinting at its becoming. Editor: Exactly! You get the sense he is struggling to get to work; even a simple thing like reaching the top of his painting appears tricky! The composition, the lines... It feels so fluid and expressive! Almost like he captured a moment mid-thought. What about those wisps of smoke or creative ether? Are these from the man's pipe? Or symbolic manifestations of creative energy? Curator: Perhaps both! Consider also how images of male labour and creativity have often been tied to notions of national identity and progress in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Yet here we see it portrayed almost with irony! This "Man" is decidedly casual! Editor: Ah, irony! That's it! But beneath the irony, there is deep empathy, a love for art and its processes. Even that signature at the bottom right --it suggests that this artist also enjoyed a quick story and storytelling. It gives everything so much weight... and playfulness. Curator: Yes, its playful intimacy invites us to reconsider broader questions about the cultural value of creative labor and how those ideas circulate within the history of art. Editor: Looking at this, I am ready to pull out my sketchbook and try something weird, something unexpected, too. Curator: It is always interesting when art moves an emotion into another creative pursuit! Thank you!