Meisje schrijvend aan een tafel bij lamplicht 1885 - 1931

Editor: So, here we have "Girl Writing at a Table by Lamplight," a pencil drawing made by Willem Bastiaan Tholen between 1885 and 1931, currently residing in the Rijksmuseum. There’s something very intimate about this drawing, like a fleeting glimpse into someone's private world. What do you see in this piece? Curator: From a materialist perspective, I’m drawn to the accessibility of the medium. Pencil, paper, and the labour… it suggests a democratization of art-making. Anyone with these basic tools can create. How does the intimate setting relate to its method of creation? Editor: That's an interesting point, that I hadn’t thought of! I see that pencil as allowing intimacy because of ease, but I suppose anyone who owns pencils and paper has certain levels of comfort and leisure? Curator: Exactly! Consider the social context in which Tholen created this work. Who had access to these materials? And what kind of labor went into producing those pencils and that paper? Were they made by hand, or were they mass-produced in factories? These factors contribute to the meaning of the piece. The industrial era allowed this ‘fleeting glimpse.’ Editor: So, by examining the materials and their production, we can understand more about the social and economic landscape of the time, and the way in which Tholen’s work interacts with that landscape. Curator: Precisely. We shouldn’t underestimate the way art consumption changes our views. Seeing this today in the museum and on mass-produced postcards… isn't it completely different than it was in Tholen's time? Editor: Definitely gives me a lot to consider – how something so apparently personal also embodies broader issues of production and class. Curator: And I am struck by your openness to consider the multiple facets of art from both private, and public angles.