Annotaties 1893

Editor: So, this is "Annotaties," a work on paper with ink made by George Hendrik Breitner in 1893, currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. It's literally a page from a diary or ledger of some sort, with numbers scribbled down. It feels incredibly intimate, like a peek into someone's daily grind. What strikes you about it? Curator: The raw materiality of this work is precisely what holds my interest. Consider the labour implied in the repeated act of writing, of calculating, using rudimentary materials like paper and ink. Breitner wasn't attempting high art here, was he? What’s fascinating is how this everyday record, this tool of accounting, transcends its intended use. The context shifts, and we view it within the walls of a museum. What does that signify in your view? Editor: I suppose it challenges the traditional hierarchy of art. Like, is accounting an art? Not usually. But by framing it and displaying it, does it become art by proxy? Curator: Precisely! We're considering the means of production, the availability and cost of these materials at the time. The type of ink, the quality of the paper – these weren't insignificant choices. Even the handwriting reveals aspects of Breitner's own…physicality in producing the drawing. It connects him, and the context he was in at the moment of making, to this piece. Do you see any evidence of that physicality? Editor: I guess the numbers are a bit messy and frantic looking, and kind of faded – as if he made the markings quickly as something that just needed to be done. You’ve definitely reframed my appreciation for this work! I thought it would just be a ledger. Curator: Indeed. Looking closely at the everyday tools can often expose us to a complex web of social conditions of labor and material production of art.