Twee zittende vrouwen onder een parasol c. 1868s - 1878s

Curator: This is "Two Seated Women Under an Umbrella," a pencil drawing by Jan Willem van Borselen, dating from around the 1860s or 70s. It is currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My first impression is a fleeting moment captured. It feels casual, almost like a memory fading at the edges, sketched with such a light pencil work on the toned paper. Curator: Absolutely, the lightness speaks to its potential function as sketchbook art. Note how the pen work almost dances across the page; a stark contrast to the laborious studio practice one might assume characterized artistic creation during the period. One can see where van Borselen experimented with lines, as evidenced through pen-ink sketching here and there. Editor: That umbrella above the figures really directs my attention. The umbrella, beyond its obvious function of providing shelter, acts as a kind of symbolic canopy here, maybe representative of the sheltered lives, socially and economically, that these women occupied. Curator: I appreciate that insight! Thinking about it materially, consider the kind of graphite available to the artist, and the very paper itself. Toned paper especially was part of the expanding artist's material marketplace, facilitating experimentation and ultimately enabling the kind of Impressionistic techniques we see deployed here in embryonic form. Editor: Also the circular forms keep appearing, the parasol's rounded cover balanced by a round hat and perhaps a small, bundled-up object near the lower seated figure. Circularity gives an echo-like sense of protection and containment but then you feel it loosen when one looks closer at how spontaneous and dashed are these outlines. Curator: Yes, these lines suggest immediacy, rejecting the older emphasis on meticulous preparatory drawings, or even "finish." Even in its apparent incompleteness, the sketch contains entire worlds in the making. We need to resist imposing a studio or market lens upon these artworks sometimes, and consider other practices. Editor: It’s a lovely glimpse not only into the artist's world, but into the protected world of his sitters. Thank you. Curator: Thank you.