Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 26 c. 1897 - 1899

Curator: It looks like whispers of a memory fading into paper. Washed-out and haunting. Editor: Indeed! We're looking at "Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 26" which translates to "Rubbing of the chalk drawing on page 26", a work on paper in graphite by Willem Witsen, likely created between 1897 and 1899. You know, the Rijksmuseum holds quite a few of his sketchbooks, offering glimpses into his artistic process and subjects. Curator: Ah, "rubbing" clarifies things; I couldn’t quite decipher what I was seeing. There is definitely an Impressionistic bent there. It feels less like a definitive portrayal and more like trying to capture the residue of something just beyond our grasp. What would he have been documenting through this medium? Editor: Well, considering Witsen’s social circles and involvement with the Dutch Impressionist movement, he would have been trying to capture the world around him and experiment with visual styles of documenting that moment in time. And remember, this technique was quite popular at the time for transferring images, so its function was also quite utilitarian for producing the book itself. Curator: Interesting! So perhaps, these ghostly marks allowed for something between pure reproduction, documentation and evocative expression. It lends a beautifully fragile, transitory quality to the artwork. And what of his choices in content and subject here – would he be thinking about public consumption at the time of creation? Editor: Given its existence within a sketchbook, it's possible he saw this as an internal record, more personal than public. Then again, his engagement in social art circles during that period of rising social mobility and media dissemination means it may be useful to consider both purposes intertwined and in tension, right? Curator: Yes! Exactly. The tensions between public presentation, and the intimacy of sketchbooks fascinates me; they whisper to the complicated dialogues within and around any creator. This makes me question where we might find these dialogues for ourselves, and to explore what might constitute as truly “finished”. Editor: Absolutely! And Witsen’s work invites precisely that kind of questioning about value, social function, and the role of these art objects.