Zelfportret van Jac van Looij 1856 - 1930

Editor: This is Jac van Looij's self-portrait, created sometime between 1856 and 1930, rendered in charcoal and ink. I'm struck by how immediate and raw it feels, even though it’s a drawing. What’s your take? Curator: Well, let’s think about the choice of materials. Charcoal and ink, these are readily available, relatively inexpensive materials. It’s not oil paint on canvas commissioned by a wealthy patron. How does this inform the work’s context? This suggests a focus on the immediate act of creation, on the artist's direct relationship to the medium. Editor: That makes sense. It's like the artwork is revealing the artistic process. But isn't this drawing style also linked to realism, to objective representation? Curator: Realism is a label, but look at how the lines create depth and shadow. The labor involved is apparent in every stroke, moving from the artist's hand to the paper. Is it *just* a straightforward depiction? Editor: Hmm, I see your point. It's more than just replicating reality, it's about the labor and the materiality shining through. What I find interesting is, that unlike other artistic practices where a work is intended for the market, this one seems almost intimate, an investigation that lays bare Van Looij's artistic labor. It encourages us to reflect on the act of drawing itself. Curator: Exactly! Consider the broader context: industrialization, new production methods…Artists, like Van Looij, were responding by highlighting the individual hand, making the means of production – mark-making on paper - the content itself. That's the material reality speaking to us.