Ponen in een aquarium 1876 - 1924

Curator: Welcome! We’re standing before Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof's work, “Ponen in een aquarium,” dating between 1876 and 1924, which currently resides in the Rijksmuseum collection. It’s a fascinating study executed with pencil and pen on paper. Editor: Immediately, I’m struck by its tentative nature. It feels like a fleeting moment captured. The tonal range is minimal, giving it a dreamlike, ephemeral quality. What do you make of it? Curator: The process is so evident. Dijsselhof allows us a peek into his artistic labor. The visible underdrawing, the scribbled notes around the central figure; these give clues into his artistic considerations. How does that affect your reading? Editor: It shifts my perspective slightly. Knowing this isn't meant as a finished piece, but rather a step in the artistic production changes how I approach the form. Notice the way he builds up the mass of the prawn through repeated strokes. This emphasis makes its translucent quality more apparent. Curator: Precisely! And consider the social context. Aquariums were a fashionable curiosity. Dijsselhof seems interested in the mass production of the prawns. Were they destined to become dinner, or decoration? The making of art also meant the extraction and marketing of real objects and living creatures! Editor: Perhaps a bit of both. Regardless, his attention to its form brings me to appreciate the structure of this small yet curious living object. Do you think Dijsselhof chose this subject for its abstract properties? Curator: No doubt he saw the artistic potential in reflecting nature, but more to the point for Dijsselhof and his era: what would his patrons pay for? Editor: The beauty of this prawn lies within the eye of the beholder. Dijsselhof masterfully created a study of contrasts – light and shadow. Thank you! Curator: Thank you! Understanding the circumstances can also change how you behold Dijsselhof's little prawn, a peek at the production of artistic form and the social world!