Gezicht in Oxfordstreet Possibly 1862 - 1867

Everhardus Koster made this drawing of Oxford Street in London on July 5th, 1862, using graphite on paper. It’s a quick sketch, almost journalistic in its quality, but don’t be fooled – it conveys a great deal about London as it was experienced at the time. Look at the marks Koster made with his pencil. You can almost feel him hurrying to capture the scene. There are carriages, pedestrians, buildings that soar upward. All of this conveys a sense of the bustling city, one of the great capitals of commerce at that time. It’s all there in the quality of the graphite, and the density of the marks that Koster laid down on the page. The image gives the impression of speed and industry. Koster isn’t offering any sort of political critique here, but just by showing us this street scene, he is reminding us of the sheer concentration of humanity that was achieved during the Industrial Revolution. So, next time you pass by a simple graphite drawing, remember how much it can tell us about the world it comes from.