Kangoeroe 1763 - 1834

Editor: So this is Isaac van Haastert's "Kangoeroe," made sometime between 1763 and 1834. It looks like a watercolor and pencil drawing on paper, currently residing at the Rijksmuseum. It has an almost naive quality, like a child's drawing. What stands out to you? Curator: It's fascinating to consider this through the lens of material history. The paper itself, the pigments available for the watercolour, even the pencils used – they all point to the limited resources and the specific trade routes of the time. Imagine the cost and labor involved in acquiring those materials! Editor: Right! The artist didn't just wake up one morning and decide to paint a kangaroo! How does the "newness" of this animal figure into it all? Curator: Exactly! And it also affects our interpretation. A European audience's first encounter with such an exotic animal would have been heavily mediated by sketches like this, or written accounts. Each telling influenced and changed the understanding. Editor: I never really thought of the artwork as something that altered material or was materially contingent in itself, instead only how its cultural references informed its meaning.. I think this definitely changes the way I view not just this, but all art. Curator: The consumption of images and stories around something unknown like the kangaroo feeds this cultural process. It highlights how limited access affected understanding and even led to misconceptions! What did *you* learn about thinking materially while doing this project? Editor: That the very materials artists use carry their own histories! Knowing where the paper came from, or what pigments were available at the time, can open up a whole new dimension of interpretation, linking art directly to trade, labor, and global exchange.