Huis met timmerwerf aan een straatweg 1773 - 1843

Curator: We're looking at a drawing by Georges Michel entitled "Huis met timmerwerf aan een straatweg", roughly translated to "House with timber yard on a street road." It's thought to have been made sometime between 1773 and 1843 using pencil. Editor: Oh, wow, it has a ghostly, washed-out quality. The entire cityscape is rendered in delicate lines, like a memory fading at the edges. Curator: Michel's work often captured the outskirts of Paris. This piece really showcases the architectural layout of working-class districts that sprung up outside city walls during a time of urban expansion. It portrays realism, yet there’s an absence, almost like something is amiss. Editor: I find that incredibly apt; you articulated something that resonates but eluded me at first glance. Perhaps that's where the drawing's quietness originates. The stark, blank road and buildings convey something very real: the quiet and desolate solitude of early industrial labour, the houses so still they are just sketches. I’m also caught by the suggestion of stories behind those barred and closed facades; perhaps stories Michel didn't, or couldn't capture in such a stoic rendering. Curator: I wonder how those initial audiences saw this landscape back in its original context. Was there that emotional recognition or was it more focused on capturing reality in depiction. Perhaps this also highlights some level of detachment from lived urban experiences as opposed to idealizing city images? Editor: Yes, I feel it in the stark contrasts captured, and also his approach. There is very little drama and the human element seems entirely absent here. The whole image speaks to me of constraint – very literally, within the limits of the pencilled edges and a feeling of an empty and transient urban dream. I find the somber stillness, and, dare I say it, the sheer ordinariness almost melancholic. Curator: Perhaps by stripping away the idyllic scenery he forces us to see a very real reality that asks pertinent questions about this growing area. Editor: Agreed! That perspective makes me consider the intent behind portraying a town and asking important questions. Curator: It reminds me of that quote: "The best way to know a city is to walk it", and Michel truly lets us do this on paper. Editor: In this quiet little street, even now. Thank you for walking us through this image.