Walswerk in een staalfabriek 1871 - 1906

Curator: Welcome. We're standing before Pieter de Josselin de Jong's "Walswerk in een staalfabriek," a drawing created sometime between 1871 and 1906, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It appears to be a quick, yet powerful sketch rendered in pencil. Editor: The immediate feeling I get is one of stark industriousness. The muted tones and somewhat rushed lines capture a raw, almost brutal, energy of labor. Curator: Indeed. The composition itself is rather interesting. Notice how de Josselin de Jong uses varying densities of pencil strokes to create a sense of depth. The lighter strokes suggest distance and the cavernous space, while the darker areas focus our attention on the workers and machinery. Editor: Absolutely, there’s a hierarchy within the image defined purely by light and dark. The figures operating the steelworks become these monolithic shapes through shadow, representing the relentless drive of industrial production. The smoke and indistinct features almost dehumanize the workers, reducing them to instruments in this great, clanging mechanism. Curator: It’s true. Yet there's something more. I see these steelworkers not merely as instruments but almost like mythical figures toiling away in a dark and dangerous underworld. The forge they tend to feels almost volcanic. Editor: That reading resonates, particularly if one considers how steel production transformed societies. There's a Prometheus-like aspect to humans extracting raw power, reshaping metal for their purpose. Curator: This work makes effective use of its lines and shapes to offer a fascinating glimpse into both industry and human exertion. Editor: And on a symbolic level, captures the weighty relationship between labor, technological advancement and our own human cost. It's a somber reflection on our own ingenuity.