Vers. Side 8 1840 - 1844

Curator: It seems we're looking at "Vers. Side 8", a sketchbook page from 1840-1844 by Johan Thomas Lundbye, made with ink on paper. It has this incredible intimacy about it, being handwriting... what catches your eye? Editor: It’s mostly the writing, how immediate and personal the piece feels. What kind of "labor" went into its creation? Curator: Well, think about the materiality of ink itself – its production, trade routes, its cost. And the paper – handmade, likely. Lundbye wouldn't just be recording observations, he'd be engaging with the *means* of making a drawing, which informs the poem itself. The work contains a visual archive and its history. What kind of person engages with that much complexity to arrive at a page of script? Editor: So, are you suggesting the tools or materials affected his artistic choices in the text, maybe guiding what he was composing? Curator: Absolutely! The speed with which the ink dries, the absorbency of the paper…all impact the final product. And, critically, the *availability* of these materials dictated who could produce such work. Only people of certain classes could do something as seemingly simple as write a poem on paper. Editor: That's an important point about class and accessibility to consider, as he produced this poem. I hadn't thought of the material reality creating limits. Curator: The history of these "simple" pages is far from simple, and Lundbye is showing a material history as he records one for us. Editor: Thanks, that’s really given me a different perspective! Looking closer makes you think about access, and labour of all this so much more vividly.