Kelk c. 1890 - 1922

Curator: Here we have "Kelk," a drawing in ink and pen made sometime between 1890 and 1922 by Johanna van de Kamer. What strikes you immediately about it? Editor: Well, right off the bat, there’s this wonderful, almost frantic energy. It looks like the artist was really caught up in capturing the object, whatever it is, right then and there in the moment with whatever pen happened to be lying around! Curator: Exactly! We can think about this as an exercise in draftsmanship, this piece feels spontaneous yet very deliberate if you observe carefully at the artist’s approach in using light, form, and shading. The focus on materials - ink and pen - speaks to the wider culture of accessible artistic creation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This isn't a commissioned portrait, this feels much more immediate. Editor: You’re so right—it does. I see that immediacy, the way the ink bleeds ever so slightly, that imperfect hatching. It gives such a different feel than, say, a perfectly rendered academic drawing. Almost dreamlike, yet somehow very present. Like rummaging around in an antique shop on a sunny afternoon. Curator: I’m intrigued by that connection to antique culture! As there would have been increased access to design history through the circulation of publications in the 19th century. And, of course, "Kelk" as an object, it reflects trends towards consumerism as the emergent middle classes invested in traditional artifacts and design, while emulating aristocratic tastes. Editor: Yes! I can almost imagine Johanna van de Kamer leafing through an old design catalog, falling in love with this piece—the “Kelk”—and then just setting about capturing her feeling about the craftsmanship as something newly precious and intriguing. Curator: It serves as such an insightful record into not only a slice of design history, but of how historical styles influence our consumer tastes. I am glad we were able to see the impact of late 19th- and early 20th-century culture as encapsulated by these trends! Editor: Me too! What a refreshing dip into the material, tactile past. It almost urges you to go pick up your own pen and sketch something.