Studieblad met vrouwen c. 1840 - 1860

Editor: This drawing, titled "Studieblad met vrouwen," or "Study Sheet with Women," was created by Charles Rochussen sometime between 1840 and 1860. It's a pencil sketch on paper and it feels very informal. What can we tell from looking at its material presence? Curator: Well, consider the paper itself. It's a mass-produced ground for studies, decidedly un-precious. Notice the rapid, almost careless application of the pencil. This speaks to the economies of artistic production – time is money, even for studies. It is, though, romantic genre-painting: an image intended to feel effortless and truthful. But can something sketched so hastily tell the truth? Editor: That's a great point! What about the women themselves? The focus is on the dress– so much volume! Curator: Absolutely. Look at how the fabric is rendered: minimal lines but enough to suggest a weightiness and a clear source of light. Rochussen focuses on the materiality of their clothing, likely indicating their social standing and relationship to labor, but the focus of this *Studieblad* isn't these individual woman but the romantic vision of “woman” in toto. It reflects societal perceptions, or expectations of women during that time. What labor went into making the dresses these women are wearing? Who performed that labor, and were their images sketched by Charles Rochussen as well? Editor: So it's not just a study of form, but also a reflection on the socio-economic context of the time? A sort of class document? Curator: Precisely! Rochussen is telling a story through the use of the readily-available, cheap, pencil on mass-produced paper in these forms – reflecting and reinforcing hierarchies in visual culture. Editor: That changes how I see it entirely! I’m starting to see the relationship between material choices and how meaning is made. Thank you!