Schetsblad met studies van jagers en geweren 1864 - 1936

Editor: Here we have "Schetsblad met studies van jagers en geweren," or "Sheet with studies of hunters and rifles," made sometime between 1864 and 1936 by Jan van Essen, using pencil on paper. I find the repetition of figures and rifles intriguing. What's your take on it? Curator: It's fascinating to consider the materiality here. Pencil on paper—these are relatively accessible materials, signifying a certain accessibility to the act of creation itself. How does the use of these readily available materials affect your interpretation of the depicted figures, these hunters? Editor: That’s a good point. Perhaps it brings the figures down to earth, making them more relatable, less romanticized? Instead of idealized hunters, they become representations of working-class individuals and their tools. Curator: Exactly! Think about the labour involved in both hunting and the creation of the sketch. The paper itself, the pencil’s graphite: Where did they come from? Who produced them? How does the production and consumption cycle tied to the rifles speak to a certain militarization of the depicted population? Editor: I didn't consider the manufacturing side. That makes me think about the availability of both rifles and art materials – almost tools for anyone to use. Curator: Precisely. Van Essen gives us sketches, yes, but perhaps these can be read less as traditional "art" and more as documentary, a social record preserved using mass produced pencils and paper depicting a populace armed with rifles also products of mass production and consumption. Editor: So, it is less about individual artistic expression and more about a study of material conditions of production. Thanks; it really opens up a whole new perspective for me. Curator: And for me, too. Considering how the ready availability of materials shaped not just artmaking, but also life, helps break down the art-life divide.