Diverse objecten 1820

Curator: This drawing, made with ink on paper around 1820 by Pierre-Nicolas Beauvallet, is titled "Diverse objecten." Editor: It has the coolness of looking at tools. Architectural maybe? Before you start designing for feeling. Before beauty makes things too complicated. Just form meeting the needs. What catches your eye first? Curator: The organization, certainly. Note how the varying scales of depicted furniture and urns share the plane. It speaks to neoclassical interest in catalogs and the distribution of goods. Editor: You're talking like a shop owner from 1820 looking through this going, "Okay, that's the urn I want," right? Is this kind of like an early mail-order catalogue then? Because I’m seeing options. Curator: In a way, yes, with heavy stylistic influence of neoclassicism. Beauvallet emphasizes precision over emotion, which in that period made this an appropriate mode of representing objects destined for bourgeois homes. Consider, too, how ink and paper were relatively accessible materials... Editor: Compared to chiseling marble or casting bronze, absolutely. So, more democratic art making in that sense, reflecting shifts in who gets to buy art, make art. How do you see its relevance now, besides, obviously, its neat historical value? Curator: The emphasis on clean, functional lines remains relevant in modern design. And this invites inquiry on our relationship with production. How are goods marketed, distributed, consumed now? What materials dominate? Editor: Well, this just makes you stop and think. It goes from just pretty to thought-provoking, and anything that achieves both of those at the same time is just pure gold, wouldn't you say?