Open plek tussen de bomen 1848 - 1888

Editor: This drawing, "Open plek tussen de bomen," or "Open space between the trees," is by Anton Mauve, created sometime between 1848 and 1888. It’s pencil on paper, and it's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. I'm immediately struck by how raw it feels, like a quick study capturing a fleeting moment in the woods. What do you see in this piece? Curator: This piece is particularly interesting when viewed through a materialist lens. Consider the very accessibility of the materials – pencil and paper. These were becoming increasingly industrialized and available during Mauve's time, impacting artistic practice by allowing for more sketching en plein air, directly responding to the landscape and reflecting the labor of the forestry workers that produced the materials. Where do you think this 'raw' aesthetic comes from? Editor: I guess it's because you can really see the hand of the artist in it? The lines are so immediate and direct. It feels like I am in the forest with him, a worker of sorts, like an impression. Curator: Precisely. The ‘sketch’ embodies this idea perfectly; a rapid recording of visual data but also, arguably, the documentation of manual labor by the artist. Note the apparent emptiness on the right-hand page - what labor has gone into making it blank? The artist, as a form of cultural and even material production, then has to be contextualised. What class position allowed him this interaction with the landscape? Editor: That makes me think differently about it. The accessibility of the materials, compared with more established modes of paintings at the time. Thanks! Curator: Exactly! Seeing the art materials not simply as tools but also as products of industry offers new paths of interpreting artwork like this one.