Schetsboek met 19 bladen by Willem Witsen

Schetsboek met 19 bladen

c. 1882 - 1884

Willem Witsen's Profile Picture

Willem Witsen

1860 - 1923

Location

Rijksmuseum
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Artwork details

Medium
paper, watercolor
Dimensions
height 249 mm, width 365 mm, thickness 7 mm, width 740 mm
Location
Rijksmuseum
Copyright
Rijks Museum: Open Domain

Tags

#water colours#dutch-golden-age#impressionism#paper#watercolor#watercolor

About this artwork

This is a sketchbook with 19 pages made by Willem Witsen. The book’s form reflects the kind of artistic practice that Witsen, born in 1860, would have known intimately. Sketchbooks like this were a mainstay of academic training, and also for artists working outside the academy who wanted to sharpen their skills of observation. Bound together, the sheets of paper create a portable, practical workspace for recording visual ideas. The sketchbook is also an artifact of the early industrial age, when paper became much more widely available and affordable. While it's easy to overlook, the sketchbook has served as a crucial means of production and reproduction. It democratized artistic training by enabling artists to practice and refine their skills independently. By considering these contexts, we can appreciate how materials, making, and artistic practices are deeply intertwined with broader social and economic forces.

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