Schetsboek met 188 bladzijden c. 1834 - 1844

Editor: So, here we have Christian Heinrich Gottlieb Steuerwald's sketchbook, boasting a whopping 188 pages from around 1834 to 1844, a captivating compilation of drawings, collages, and mixed media on paper. It strikes me as surprisingly restrained; what's your take? Curator: Restrained, you say? Ah, but there's a universe teeming within those pages, don't you think? A decade's worth, or maybe more, of snatched moments, ponderings, raw ideas yearning for a voice. The outer cover may be subtle, like the spine of a well-loved novel, unassuming, but hinting at narratives untold. It’s like glimpsing a diary—what stories might these pages tell? Editor: So it's like the cover belies the complexity held inside? I see that. Curator: Precisely! It is mixed-media, drawings combined with collages: evidence of both careful planning and happy accidents – don’t you love seeing the seams of the creative process? Think of the world at the time: industrialization, nascent photography… Perhaps this sketchbook served as a refuge, a space to observe, critique, and dream. Editor: The ‘refuge’ aspect makes a lot of sense in that historical context. How does the mixed-media contribute to this sense of refuge? Curator: It is interesting. Perhaps, Steuerwald uses whatever medium available in the moment – a hastily scribbled note next to an intricate pencil drawing – as if everything deserved a space, a voice. Maybe art, life, and everything is worth saving... or sketching, no? Editor: Definitely! It all does come together, though. I initially missed the possible depth of it all. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. And really, isn't that the best kind of art? The kind that whispers secrets you only start to understand when you lean in a little closer, spend a bit more time.