Landschappen Possibly 1876 - 1877

Editor: This is Willem Cornelis Rip's "Landschappen," possibly from 1876-1877. It appears to be made with pen, pencil and coloured pencil. The landscape is very faint and obscured with what appears to be handwriting, perhaps notes of some kind? What catches your eye? Curator: What interests me most here is the intersection of the landscape drawing with the textual annotations. Consider the material conditions of artmaking at the time. Rip likely used a readily available sketchbook. Was this for personal use, as a study, or something else? Editor: It definitely feels like a study rather than a finished work. So the medium itself speaks to its function? Curator: Precisely. The hasty strokes of the pencil, combined with the pen annotations, speak to the process of observing, recording, and reflecting. This wasn’t about creating a polished product; it was about engaging with the landscape. The medium and the act of writing become part of the landscape itself. What about the colored pencil? What might that suggest? Editor: Maybe a desire to capture the nuances of light and color, but in a quick, efficient way? So even the color becomes about the material and the speed of production? Curator: Exactly. And let's also consider who had access to these materials and under what circumstances. This wasn't rarefied oil paint, but the accessible tools of sketching. In that accessibility we glimpse at broader social implications too. Editor: I hadn't thought about it like that, focusing on the accessibility of the materials. Seeing the medium as a way of understanding access makes me rethink the entire piece! Curator: Indeed! Considering these aspects of the drawing invites us to contemplate how art-making, even something as simple as a pencil sketch, is intertwined with the fabric of everyday life, labor, and social strata.