Wagen met paard 1773 - 1843

Editor: Here we have "Wagen met paard," or "Cart with Horse" by Georges Michel, made sometime between 1773 and 1843 using pencil. The sketchy lines give it a very immediate, almost documentary feel. What catches your eye in this drawing? Curator: Immediately, I consider the social and material conditions embedded in the drawing itself. Pencil, mass-produced since the late 18th century, makes art accessible in a new way. Here, we see a working-class scene: a horse-drawn cart. What was Michel trying to capture? Was he concerned with the material realities of labor or documenting the shift to industrialised transportation, thinking about raw material? Editor: That’s interesting. I was focusing on the style – the landscape elements and the romantic feel. Curator: Perhaps. But how does the choice of a common subject, rendered in a common medium, challenge notions of artistic subject matter? Instead of idealized landscapes or portraits, Michel chooses the everyday. This also forces us to see the physical demands on the working animal in relation to that industrial evolution, wouldn't you say? Editor: So, by depicting the everyday using mass-produced materials, he’s democratizing art and bringing attention to the labor that supports society? Curator: Precisely! The very act of drawing this scene, with this material, becomes a social statement about what's considered worthy of artistic representation and questions how art becomes something of value and what that value is linked to. Editor: I hadn't considered it from that perspective. Looking at the pencil marks as a connection to broader social issues changes my perception. Thanks! Curator: And now you’re primed to consider not just what’s depicted, but how, and why!