Kasteel en figuren c. 1890 - 1922

Curator: This is "Kasteel en figuren," or "Castle and Figures," a mixed media drawing by Johanna van de Kamer, likely created sometime between 1890 and 1922. The piece utilizes watercolour and coloured pencil. Editor: It feels like looking at a faded memory. Very ethereal. Almost ghost-like in its depiction. Curator: Indeed. What strikes me is the visible process. The layering of pencil beneath the washes of watercolor. It is on a page pulled directly from a sketchbook. The work displays an intimacy as though we’re privy to Van de Kamer’s preliminary musings. We can almost see the artist at work, experimenting with textures and translucence. Editor: The castle itself, almost disappears, a suggestion of structural power rather than a declaration of it. I'm particularly intrigued by the lone figure in the foreground, dominating the space with a gentle stance. Was it common for female artists to portray subjects so elusively during that time, seemingly rejecting notions of grandeur and stability associated with landscape painting? Curator: While societal constraints certainly influenced artistic expression, focusing solely on gender may limit our understanding. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw widespread artistic experimentation. Remember, too, the influence of Impressionism and its focus on capturing fleeting moments. Perhaps she's less interested in the solid structures and more interested in depicting her impression of a castle and the individual's relation to such structures. Her process feels particularly relevant—working with impermanent media to address themes of ephemeral impressions. Editor: Perhaps it is my penchant to see a narrative within social shifts, but knowing the art world’s constraints at the time for female artists and the artwork being created on an unbound page, using pencil and watercolour, amplifies this sense of freedom and resistance against the established norms and exhibition standards. Curator: The choice of materials and the deliberate exposure of the working process challenges conventional ideas about finish and value in art. Perhaps it elevates the act of creation itself above any prescribed subject. Editor: A fitting end, leaving us contemplating not only the castle and figures, but also the artist’s evolving engagement with both material and theme.