Stadsgezicht met de Montelbaanstoren 1870 - 1923

Editor: Here we have Willem Witsen's "Cityscape with the Montelbaanstoren," a pencil drawing created sometime between 1870 and 1923. It feels very realistic, but also a little… romanticized? All of those tiny lines, and the reflection in the water is mesmerizing! What strikes you about this piece? Curator: The way Witsen employs such a humble material, pencil, to capture such detail… it pushes us to consider drawing not just as preparatory but as a final form. Think about the accessibility of pencil; it’s not a costly oil paint reserved for the wealthy. Did the use of a common material democratize the art creation process at all? Editor: That’s a fascinating point! I hadn’t considered the pencil itself as a statement. How do you think the choice of subject, this urban landscape, fits into that? Curator: This wasn't some grand historical scene or idealized landscape – Witsen documented the everyday workings of Amsterdam. Think about those warehouses he rendered so precisely. Consider the material exchange they enabled; they are key to the city’s economy, essential for importing, storing and exporting commodities. Editor: So, the drawing then highlights both the material reality of the city, but also the materials and labour *behind* that reality. Curator: Exactly! How does Witsen's attention to detail, almost photographic in its precision, affect how we see the relationship between labor and representation in the industrial era? The act of recording this labor…does it acknowledge or further obscure the conditions of work? Editor: I see what you mean! By focusing on the *things*, we almost forget the *people* who made them and move them around. It is definitely something I will think about from now on! Thank you! Curator: Indeed, by recognizing that materiality and processes are central to our understanding of not only the artwork itself but how that artwork engages in larger economic, social and political conversations, we engage the artwork more deeply and meaningfully.