Het buiten Spaarnhout 1885

Editor: So, here we have Ernst Witkamp’s “Het buiten Spaarnhout,” a watercolor painting from 1885. It strikes me as quite a traditional landscape. What do you see in this piece, especially considering the period it was made? Curator: This is a great example of how close attention to materials and social context challenges those “traditional” categories. Watercolor was frequently regarded as a medium for amateurs or preliminary sketches, yet here Witkamp employs it for a highly detailed depiction of a country estate. How does the choice of watercolor, rather than say, oil, impact our understanding of the work's intended audience and purpose? Editor: That's interesting! I hadn’t thought about the medium itself holding such social weight. Perhaps using watercolor was a deliberate choice, maybe to align it with the burgeoning middle class and their interest in leisure and landscape art? Curator: Precisely! Consider also the “plein-air” technique, another tag listed, signaling a direct engagement with the landscape. Witkamp is not merely painting from memory or sketches, but responding directly to the materiality of the scene before him. Notice how the watercolor lends itself to capturing the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere, making the consumption of leisure an active pursuit grounded in observation. Do you see any evidence of labor depicted here? Or, perhaps, the *erasure* of labor? Editor: I suppose the perfectly manicured lawns and neatly potted plants imply a great deal of unseen labor to maintain this idyllic scene... the kind of work often absent from these idealized landscapes. Curator: Exactly. And what does it mean that Witkamp, as an artist, chose to spend his labor rendering this particular vision of leisure? The choices behind the artist's materials and production processes really tell a story, don't they? Editor: Yes, absolutely! It definitely makes you reconsider the piece as more than just a pretty landscape painting. Thanks, that's really given me a lot to think about.