Gezicht op de krater van de Gunung Gamalama, Noord-Molukken 1824

This graphite drawing of Gunung Gamalama was made in the North Moluccas by Adrianus Johannes Bik, a Dutch artist active in the first half of the 19th century. The graphite pencil, though appearing simple, was crucial to European expansion and colonial exploitation in this period. Graphite was mined and manufactured into pencils, enabling rapid visual documentation. It allowed artists like Bik to efficiently record landscapes and resources in colonized territories. The texture of the drawing is defined by the artist’s hand, swiftly capturing the mountain’s form with delicate, almost topographic lines. Notice how Bik uses hatching and shading to suggest volume and depth, while the paper's surface remains visible, adding an atmospheric quality. In this context, drawing becomes a tool for surveying and claiming distant lands, subtly implicated in the era’s politics and labor.