Schetsboek met 32 bladen c. 1886 - 1890

This sketchbook was made by George Hendrik Breitner, likely between the late 19th and early 20th century, and is comprised of paper and a textile binding. It's a modest object, really, but consider: it was an indispensable tool for an artist immersed in the gritty realities of Amsterdam. The cover shows the marks of use, the weave of the cloth, and the wear and tear of being carried around the city. Breitner, known for his paintings of working-class life, would have filled its pages with quick impressions, sketches from life, a raw and immediate record of a metropolis in motion. This wasn't high art; this was the everyday labor of seeing and recording, a process of translating observation into potential paintings. The sketchbook, then, is not just a container for ideas, but an extension of Breitner's eye and hand, a testament to the intimate connection between artist, material, and the social world. It challenges us to consider the value we place on finished works, versus the processes and practices from which those works emerge.