Mannen die biljart spelen in een café c. 1935 - 1936

Editor: This pencil drawing, "Mannen die biljart spelen in een café" – Men Playing Billiards in a Cafe – was created by Cornelis Vreedenburgh around 1935 or 36. The sketchiness really gives you a sense of movement, almost like a snapshot. What do you see in this piece, particularly in relation to its context? Curator: This sketch is intriguing because it highlights the process of making, before any ‘finished’ product. Vreedenburgh captures a mundane, working-class scene, focusing not just on the pastime itself, but on the architecture that facilitates this activity; its lines are blurred to capture the architecture as a physical embodiment of community and the everyday lives of those who frequented cafes, reflecting perhaps leisure in interwar Europe. Editor: So, you're saying the choice of subject, everyday people, emphasizes the material conditions of their lives at this time? Curator: Exactly. The seemingly disposable nature of a pencil sketch adds to this reading, contrasting high art with everyday experience. Furthermore, considering the means of distribution, we question: was it intended for an elite art audience, or would this have been disseminated via popular, possibly even mass produced imagery, to reflect social norms? The work encourages considering the social implications of depicting this subject and what this would entail about cultural production and visual language at the time. Editor: That makes me wonder about the relationship between 'high' art and casual sketches during this era. Curator: Precisely. It blurs that binary by representing a casual activity via an equally unfussy artistic creation; by prioritizing raw sketch work, we start to break down elitism around the creation of artworks at that period of time, allowing viewers to value alternative artistic statements or outputs. This prompts a discussion about artistic labor and commodification of daily experience through art. Editor: I'm now considering art and production values in completely new lights – viewing the cafe culture itself almost as material. Thank you. Curator: And I in turn have revised my own interpretation of its worth based on our dialogue about audience reach and access.