Abklatsch van de krijttekeningen op pagina 11 c. 1884 - 1887

This transfer print was made by Willem Witsen, using a technique called 'Abklatsch' to transfer chalk drawings from one page to another. This process involved applying pressure to the back of a sheet of paper, rubbing the chalk from the original drawing onto a fresh surface. The resulting image, as you can see, is delicate and somewhat ghostly, a faint echo of the original. This reproductive technique was sometimes used by artists as a means of quickly duplicating an image, but here, the choice of process is meaningful in itself. The soft, diffuse quality of the chalk, combined with the act of transfer, gives the image a sense of transience. It is a reminder of the labor involved in artistic creation. This blurring of the boundary between original and copy asks us to reconsider our understanding of value in art, and perhaps to appreciate the nuances of process, alongside the final image.