Vakwerkhuis met een waterrad c. 1871 - 1878

Maria Vos created this pencil drawing of a half-timbered house with a water wheel. The simplicity of pencil on paper allows for an intimate look into a scene where architecture and the natural world meet. Consider the water wheel itself. It is a technology predicated on the control of nature, designed to harness energy for mechanical work, such as grinding grain, powering bellows, or sawing wood. Look closely, and you can see the marks of its assembly: the grain of the wood, the rivets, the bolts, and the way it's all been fitted together. All this speaks to the material demands of nineteenth-century life, and the amount of sheer labor that was required to keep society running. This drawing can be fully appreciated when we consider the materiality of both its subject, and the making of the artwork. It also challenges the long-held distinction between the applied arts and fine art.