Boom bij Trapjesweg te Gelderland 1842 - 1868

Editor: This delicate pen and ink sketch, titled "Boom bij Trapjesweg te Gelderland," was created by Johannes Tavenraat sometime between 1842 and 1868 and is now held at the Rijksmuseum. There's a kind of tentative quality to the lines that makes me feel like I’m looking at something very private, like a page torn from the artist’s sketchbook. What stands out to you? Curator: What intrigues me is the immediacy of the sketch and its connection to artistic labor. Look at the artist's hand present in each line. We are witnessing Tavenraat’s process: his active engagement with representing nature. Consider the context: cheap paper and ink allowing a burgeoning class of artists to explore landscape. It's a democratization of artistic materials, isn't it? How does the unfinished quality of the sketch influence your understanding? Editor: I guess I hadn't thought about it like that. The sketchiness did initially make it feel informal, more of a personal exercise. So, the cheap materials made art creation more accessible, it lowers the barrier, doesn't it? Curator: Precisely. It moves away from commissioned portraits or grand historical paintings, focusing on readily available subjects and cheaper, accessible methods. Did this shift potentially open the doors to explore different styles? Editor: I think so. You're drawing attention to the way accessible material conditions changed the type of art being made and who was able to create. Thank you, this has given me a lot to consider about materials, class, and production. Curator: Indeed. Focusing on production, and making becomes crucial to broadening the very definition of 'art.'