Dorp bij Kleef c. 1839 - 1872

This sketch, "Dorp bij Kleef", was created by Johannes Tavenraat, and it appears to have been made using graphite pencil on paper. It's a study, a quick impression dashed off on the spot, but it is still laden with cultural information. The material itself, graphite, only came into common use as an artists' material in the 19th century, when industrial processes allowed it to be reliably manufactured in sticks. Before then, artists largely used silverpoint or charcoal. The choice of graphite, then, speaks to a changing attitude towards art making. This simple drawing becomes more evocative when we consider these shifts in material culture and industrial manufacture. Tavenraat, with a humble pencil, could capture the essence of a place, fixing it to paper. The drawing's value lies not only in its aesthetic qualities, but in the social and economic forces that made its creation possible.