Studies 1919

Curator: Looking at Reijer Stolk’s “Studies,” created around 1919 and housed right here at the Rijksmuseum, I’m immediately struck by the layering of watercolor. It is all very translucent. What do you think? Editor: Honestly, I find it wonderfully vague. There’s a dreamy quality, like trying to recall a memory through a haze of sleepiness. It’s intimate. Is this really meant to be displayed? Looks more like a page torn from the artist’s personal notebook! Curator: Exactly. Think about what it means to consider these sketches on par with more traditionally ‘finished’ works. Stolk is challenging that distinction, laying bare his artistic process for us to see. The very lack of precise definition compels us to engage. Editor: I’m fond of how he hints at forms; are those figures? Landscapes? What is represented here becomes secondary to how the watercolors blend and bleed into one another. Notice that gentle wash of lavender…like looking at blossoms through rain-streaked glass. Curator: Indeed. It pushes the boundary between representation and pure abstraction. Considering its medium—watercolor, known for its fluidity and spontaneity—one can easily trace Stolk’s process, the subtle building up of tones and the inevitable, charming imperfections. Think about what it meant to him in the midst of the changing social constructs after World War I. Editor: I'm charmed by that tiny cluster of yellow, fighting to exist amid the greys and muted blues. It whispers a hope for the future. A gentle hope, tentative even. Curator: The artist makes a clear claim. These humble “Studies,” created using modest materials, are just as valid as a formal portrait in oil paints. Labor isn’t confined to one realm. I admire the challenge. Editor: Stolk makes us look closely, see deeply, and ponder the poetics of incomplete visions. Curator: Well, there is something to admire, even if it isn't clear what it is. Thanks for exploring it with me. Editor: Any time! It made me wonder, that's for sure.