IJsbergen 1880

Editor: Here we have Louis Apol’s "IJsbergen," created around 1880, a drawing rendered in pencil, currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. It strikes me as quite minimalist. How can such simple lines evoke something so massive and formidable? What do you see in terms of visual composition? Curator: The charm lies precisely in the austerity. Notice the artist’s deliberate use of line. Apol isn't attempting to capture the sublime, romantic feeling of, say, a Turner painting. The very flatness of the picture plane is accentuated by the limited tonal range of the pencil. What does that flatness do for the spatial relationship? Editor: It almost feels like the icebergs are pressed up against the picture plane, lacking depth and volume… almost abstract in their simplicity. But why? Curator: Consider the properties of the pencil itself. Its inherent limitations steer the artist towards a reduction of form. The emphasis is shifted from illusionism toward materiality – we see the drawing first, the icebergs second. Notice too how the blank space surrounding the forms emphasizes their isolation, almost as diagrammatic specimens, not romantic giants. Editor: That’s interesting; I hadn't thought of it that way. I was stuck on trying to feel something, instead of looking at the construction of the work itself. Thanks! Curator: Exactly! By focusing on the formal elements, the artwork’s intrinsic qualities become more evident. I am delighted to offer an alternative framework to assess an artwork that can be very easily taken out of context.