Vier voorstellingen van een staande figuur 1777 - 1779

Editor: This is "Vier voorstellingen van een staande figuur," or "Four depictions of a standing figure," created between 1777 and 1779 by Pieter de Mare. It's an etching done with pen on paper, and the figures are so expressive and almost cartoonish. What strikes you most about the composition of these four panels? Curator: Note the rhythmic progression, delineated by the discrete rectangular frames, each containing a figure frozen in a specific, if somewhat obscure, posture. We must ask, what is the visual relationship of one frame to the next? Does the artist imply a temporal relationship through the sequencing of these figures, a primitive form of narrative perhaps? Editor: I see what you mean. It’s like a very short comic strip. But there's not an obvious story being told, or is there? Curator: That's where the real puzzle resides, isn’t it? Notice the consistency of the line work. The evenness of the hatching suggests the artist was focused on uniformity and precision rather than expressive mark-making. Yet, within these formal constraints, De Mare allows a subtle character to emerge through posture and gesture. Are we to interpret the contrast between formal control and expressive content as significant? Editor: That’s a really interesting point. I hadn't considered the tension between those elements. The poses are so distinct. It makes me think the formal rigidity emphasizes the human quirkiness even more. Curator: Indeed, the careful control only throws the almost vulgar postures into sharper relief. By reducing these figures to outlines within such confined space, the viewer’s attention is directed to the line, to the contour, which speaks of movement and change while simultaneously reinforcing the static. Editor: I guess I focused so much on what they *were* doing, instead of *how* they were drawn. Thanks, now I can see so much more. Curator: Precisely. The artist gives form to our viewing. Always interrogate the relationship between the contour, the texture, the line; meaning unfolds therein.