Figuur voor een gevel c. 1888s

Willem Witsen made this drawing titled 'Figuur voor een gevel', or 'Figure for a Facade', with a graphite pencil. Here we see a sketch of Amsterdam, probably made around the turn of the century. Consider the buildings as social spaces, as places where people lived, worked, and interacted. The sketch then becomes not just about architecture, but about the social life of the city. It's a record of a specific time and place, capturing something of the atmosphere and the social fabric of Amsterdam as it modernized. The buildings that Witsen sketched were often symbols of wealth and status. How might the artist's choice of subject matter reflect his attitude towards the social structures of his time? Was he celebrating the progress and prosperity of the city, or critiquing the inequalities and social divisions that came with it? These are the kinds of questions that an art historian might ask. We can use historical documents, photographs, and other sources to learn more about the social and political context in which Witsen was working.