Schelp, naar links 1878 - 1944

Curator: Here we have "Schelp, naar links," which translates to "Shell, facing left," a work made sometime between 1878 and 1944. It's attributed to Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita and held here at the Rijksmuseum. It’s an intriguing graphic work, a drawing executed in ink. Editor: The textures are fascinating. The cross-hatching of the table surface juxtaposed with the mottled pattern on the shell itself creates a dynamic tension. It’s bold and quite graphic in its simplicity, despite the detail. Curator: Absolutely. Mesquita, while perhaps not as widely known as some of his contemporaries, possessed a remarkable facility with line. This piece really highlights his skill with a pen. What I find particularly compelling is his transformation of a commonplace object, a shell, into something almost otherworldly. Editor: That's it. The process becomes the subject. One can imagine the artist, hunched over the paper, meticulously building up these dense networks of ink, and the repetitive, almost meditative act of creation. I’m wondering about his tools. The varying weight of the lines suggests he used a range of pen nibs? Curator: Likely so. It reflects an interest in surface and the optical effects that ink can produce. But let's also consider the social implications here. Mesquita, as a Sephardic Jew in Europe during this period, would have been facing increasing levels of discrimination. Editor: So, art becoming a space of resistance? Turning inward, perhaps, to nature as refuge from socio-political turmoil. The close observation of this humble object transforms it into something monumental. Curator: I agree; art certainly offered refuge, a means of subtly negotiating a hostile environment. Museums provide the platforms to highlight artists such as de Mesquita. Editor: Considering the act of studying nature so closely at a time of immense external upheaval certainly makes you wonder. Curator: It's in the intimate scale of the drawing, this sense of concentrated focus that generates the tension, a dialogue between the internal and external worlds of the artist. Editor: Yes, a humble material elevated into a study that now speaks to so much more. Curator: It all just makes it richer.