Visser onder een kap in een roeiboot 1870 - 1914

Curator: At first glance, this etching emits a serene, almost melancholic feeling. The composition feels very balanced, but subdued. Editor: This etching by Willem Bastiaan Tholen, dating from around 1870 to 1914, titled "Visser onder een kap in een roeiboot", or "Fisherman Under a Hood in a Rowboat", intrigues me because it departs from academic traditions to show a tradesman during labor. One considers how images of labor in landscape gained popularity along with industrial capitalism. Curator: The almost frantic mark-making around the foliage really heightens the stillness of the central figure. The textures create a strong contrast that highlights the figure’s patience and stillness, quite fascinating. Editor: Yes, and those rapid, repetitive lines speak to the actual labor of the etching process itself— the copper plate, the acid bath, the press. The work asks how the production affects the perceived value, what that entails when compared with say painting. What does the democratizing of artistic representation achieve for a new patron class? Curator: Absolutely. But speaking just visually, those darker textures around the edges seem to intentionally draw our focus towards the center—towards that solitary figure patiently holding his fishing rod, seated, creating a real focal point with his figure. Note also the construction of space with a distinct foreground, middle ground and background. Editor: Tholen, through etching, seems to be mediating a vision of labor, angling towards an accessible art form while capturing scenes of ordinary, rural life—his choice of subject being indicative of the society surrounding it. What purpose do such acts serve to our own understanding of contemporary labor as art? Curator: I see your point and yet still wonder how he arrived at such refined, balanced composition by means of simple repeated strokes, transforming ordinary subject into something undeniably captivating. I find the way he handled textures particularly successful. Editor: I agree it has unique attributes of visual complexity, but what does that say about a piece that can be replicated with use? Regardless, I hope everyone now sees more to it than they did. Curator: Precisely, perhaps even consider how everyday experiences translate to artwork!