Notities en berekeningen c. 1935 - 1936

Curator: This unassuming page, titled "Notities en berekeningen" (Notes and Calculations), comes from the hand of Cornelis Vreedenburgh, dating back to around 1935 or 1936. It’s currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. The piece utilizes pen and pastel on paper, offering a glimpse into the artist's process. Editor: My immediate reaction is a feeling of intimacy. It’s like discovering a private document, full of calculations and cryptic notes. It evokes the feeling of uncovering forgotten histories. Curator: Precisely! Looking at this through a socio-political lens, these calculations aren’t just abstract numbers. We could read this in relation to the austerity measures during the economic hardship that followed the Great Depression and its impacts on artists, particularly those who, like Vreedenburgh, were exploring abstraction. Editor: The use of faded pastel alongside precise pen strokes does suggest a kind of emotional calculus at play. There's an undeniable tension between the rigidity implied by the numbers and the ephemeral quality of the pastel. I wonder, are there specific symbols at play here? What of the visible word "Sketcher's Note Book?" Curator: That's the fascinating tension in a piece like this – the intersection between personal expression, a seemingly technical endeavor, and broader socio-economic contexts. I imagine these are indeed symbols to the artist. The visible manufacturer information, that of a London based manufacturer, reveals colonial flows that the artist engaged through materials and sketches of abstracted forms from other locales. Editor: The inclusion of what seem to be lists and calculations adds a layer of complexity. They're rendered almost calligraphically. I get a sense of preservation from this. What does all this notation represent for the artist? Was this notebook a private dialogue between artist and symbol? Curator: We see artists using mathematics, language, even coded notation as a response to feelings of anxiety that emerge from very unstable social conditions. These calculations and notes could be read as attempts to regain control. The very act of calculating and notating served as an act of protest against those forces and ideologies. Editor: Looking at it again, the piece reminds us that even abstract art is deeply rooted in the real world. Thank you for offering a glimpse behind the equations and notes. Curator: My pleasure. And perhaps a reminder that within apparent disarray, one can also uncover acts of resilience.