Koek-en-zopie 1770 - 1825

Simon Andreas Krausz made this drawing of a Koek-en-zopie tent sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century, using pen and brown ink on paper. The rapidly applied hatching indicates the quick pace of work, suggesting he may have been sketching from life, maybe even standing in the freezing cold, just like the other figures in the picture. The subject of the drawing is a temporary tent, thrown together to sell warm drinks to skaters. We get a sense of the speed with which the structure was erected, as the artist has quickly sketched it in simple lines. It is a scene of humble labor, not just in the making of the drawing, but in the world it depicts. This work reminds us that art need not be made of precious materials, or represent lofty subjects, to tell us a great deal about the world around us.