Notities, deels doorgehaald 1834 - 1906

This is a page of ‘Notities, deels doorgehaald’ made by Maria Vos, though the precise date is unknown. The page, now in the Rijksmuseum collection, bears witness to the artist's process, written in pen and ink on paper. Vos has used the most basic of tools: the pen, the hand, and the mind. Yet, this simplicity is deceptive. The quality of the ink, the smoothness of the paper, and the artist's own steady hand all contribute to the legibility and beauty of the script. More intriguing is the way in which some notes have been crossed out, obscured by dense looping lines of ink. These cancellations suggest a process of constant revision, a dialogue between the artist and herself. In that sense, it is a record of work, but one that is never quite resolved. It reminds us that creativity is not always about finished products, but often about the labor and thought that goes into them.