Farm Buildings [recto] 

Robert Hogg Nisbet created this sketch of farm buildings using pencil and wash on paper. These are traditional art materials, allowing for a directness and immediacy in capturing the scene. The material influences the artwork’s appearance through its textures and tones; the pencil creates a linear quality while the wash adds depth through subtle tonal variations. The rapid strokes suggest a fleeting moment, imbuing the scene with movement. It is possible the artist made the sketch outside, ‘en plein air’, carrying materials, and selecting vantage points and paper size based on what they were willing to carry that day. The sketch is not a finished painting, so we can assume that it was made in preparation for something else. In this way it’s tied to the wider social issues of labor, politics, and consumption, in that it is one step in a larger journey to a finished artwork. Understanding this work involves recognizing the importance of materials, the artist’s making process, and its context within artistic traditions. The use of pencil and wash challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and craft, elevating sketching to a medium that captures the essence of rural life.