Wijzend figuur 1943 - 2009

Curator: Let's consider Rein Dool's "Wijzend figuur," dating from 1943 to 2009, here at the Rijksmuseum. What's your immediate take? Editor: It feels playful yet unsettling. The harsh lines combined with the almost childlike forms give it a really strange dynamic tension. The monochrome against that vibrant blue... it just pulls you in. Curator: Dool often engaged with abstraction after the war. Notice the way the figure points, almost accusingly, within this broader context of post-war anxiety and re-evaluation. There's a definite unease that many felt questioning what had just occurred within a societal perspective, yes? Editor: Absolutely, but that accusation isn't just thematic. The direction of the lines, their sharpness, all focus attention; look how that right eye peeks, unsettling but intriguing... like he sees everything that passed through WWII... from that, I mean this focus creates this discomfort! How the abstraction and flatness interact to make that character. Curator: Interesting, because this image challenges notions of conventional portraiture and also engages more with modern ideals during and after WWII where there's a push and pull between these ideals of reality, but using caricatures that you mentioned previously to represent reality versus conventional ideals. Editor: The caricature allows a degree of commentary, but then what is reality versus artificial constructs, yes? It asks questions of how art depicts society. And its style, while 'cartoonish,' speaks to a conscious manipulation of form and expectation. Curator: That rings true; it allows an opening to discuss the human condition—how historical factors often influenced it, and in doing so it brings us closer to understanding this figure from a humanistic perspective. It almost reminds one of Daumier's lithographs critiquing French society. Editor: A fair comparison, yes! The gestural qualities enhance its presence. Curator: Agreed, there is great strength in what otherwise would look like the 'simple' rendering, but it is so powerful when you delve deeper into art history of war. Editor: So there's so much contained within something that at first glance may appear simple, like children's drawings.