Annotaties 1906

Curator: Here we have "Annotaties," created in 1906 by George Hendrik Breitner. It's a drawing done with graphite and colored pencil on paper, and you can view it here at the Rijksmuseum. What strikes you first about it? Editor: Well, immediately it’s the ghostly quality of the image and the rough, immediate mark-making. It appears unresolved and very fragmentary. What about its construction is relevant? Curator: I find it compelling how this piece reflects Breitner’s approach to art as a record of fleeting moments within the rapidly changing urban environment of Amsterdam at the turn of the century. The “annotations” appear as personal notes taken while the city evolves around him. Editor: The sense of temporality certainly translates through the indistinct form and sketchy application of materials. It gives the impression of an exercise in raw notation rather than any polished and finalised pictorial outcome. You can almost feel the speed with which it must have been created. Curator: Indeed. Breitner often captured street life and working-class subjects. One may understand his technique as almost an equivalent to a ‘snapshot’. It reflects the emerging culture of photographic imagery that captured subjects unfiltered. The rawness almost humanises his subjects even more. Editor: It certainly does create that humanistic feeling! It achieves an honest, visceral aesthetic through limited means—I'm drawn to its transparency. But what do you make of its reception in the context of impressionistic artwork? Curator: I think that initially, the public were unsure how to react to such casual portrayals in fine art—having grown up in a world expecting portraiture of grand figures, idealised and imposing, how could people view subjects simply existing, shown without romantic embellishment, or without overt social or moral commentary? Editor: A truly interesting reflection on his practice of urban portraiture. It makes this unassuming piece all the more resonant. Curator: I agree—thank you. Hopefully, listeners can spend some time appreciating how even simple mark-making can encapsulate pivotal social change.