Bosrand 1848 - 1888

Anton Mauve made this drawing, titled Bosrand, with pencil on paper. It’s easy to overlook drawings, but they are so often where artists work through their most fundamental thinking. Mauve has built up this composition with thousands of tiny strokes, a simple, repetitive labor that results in a complex depiction of light and shadow. The marks are not just representational, but also express the artist’s attention to the landscape, and his willingness to spend time there. Consider how the humble materials contribute to the work’s immediacy, which is in contrast to the amount of work involved in the production process. The sketch appears to be quickly executed, but this belies the labor and level of skill needed to imbue the sketch with the qualities we can observe. This reminds us to look closely at the connection between the physical work, its material embodiment, and its context of creation.