Perspectiefoefening met een rechthoek 1813

Editor: This is Catharina Kemper’s "Perspective Exercise with a Rectangle," made in 1813 with pencil. It feels almost like a diagram, and yet there’s another fainter image lurking in the background. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I see the residue of a system attempting to contain something that resists it. The clear lines and geometric forms, the very attempt at "perspective," represent an impulse towards order, towards control, towards a very specific, and arguably limited, way of seeing the world. Editor: How so? Curator: Well, who benefits from this particular "perspective?" During Kemper’s time, the dominance of linear perspective coincided with colonial expansion and the rise of capitalist modes of production. This system literally frames the world in a way that makes it exploitable. And that ghostlike figure, almost erased by the rigid structure, could symbolize all that gets suppressed. What do you make of that barely visible image? Editor: I hadn’t thought of it that way. It's haunting! The strict geometry versus that fluid form. Perhaps the 'correct' perspective almost erases the more expressive potential. Curator: Exactly! We can read this work as a quiet rebellion against the imposition of a singular, ‘objective’ viewpoint, especially considering it was created by a woman artist working within a patriarchal structure that often minimized women's perspectives and creative agency. Editor: That adds another layer. I’m seeing it completely differently now. It is a drawing about more than just perspective! Curator: Absolutely. Art allows us to question whose vision dominates and who or what remains hidden.