Pijprokende man aan de Oosterkade te Rotterdam c. 1930 - 1940

Curator: Here we have Otto Verhagen’s “Pijprokende man aan de Oosterkade te Rotterdam,” or “Man Smoking a Pipe on the Oosterkade in Rotterdam” made sometime between 1930 and 1940. It is a pencil drawing, offering a glimpse into everyday life in Rotterdam. What strikes you first about this work? Editor: It has an unfinished quality, a moment captured fleetingly. It's so delicate and feels more like an intimate study, you know? It also evokes, in some weird way, the sense of just having arrived from dock work or getting ready to leave on some work. There is weariness implied, even just in those few pencil lines. Curator: Absolutely. I see that, too. The materials themselves—the paper, the pencil—speak to a directness of observation, no pretensions. The pencil itself offers different tonalities from heavy to extremely light strokes. There's very little manipulation, which gives a clear connection to that Rotterdam cityscape he experienced. Think about the access to sketching materials in those times and that speaks about who may have the luxury to even perform that exercise. Editor: The quickness suggests something less about "high art" and more about pure functionality, a way of capturing reality and possibly jotting it down to be utilized at another moment in the artist’s commercial or artistic endevours. There is labor even if it's just "contemplation labor". Curator: I agree. I imagine Verhagen returning from working on the docks or perhaps heading that way and observing this figure taking a breather. Notice how economically the figure is rendered - we see only the barest sense of him, with just a few lines to suggest his face and clothing. It brings out a raw sincerity to it. It becomes like an "art of necessity." Editor: It speaks of something almost primordial, doesn't it? He is sitting almost like a sculpture from antiquity that is made from pencil and that is about to crumble away as the sun hits it. I mean it's interesting how artists engage with subjects in various socio-economic conditions and it says that even art or creative processes can't exist in a vacuum of that dynamic. Curator: A beautiful, evocative image, offering so much through such simple means. Verhagen's study allows us to glimpse the beauty in the ordinary. Editor: Yes, I agree. It shows me how essential sketching could be during that period and its purpose of registering, capturing, or even documenting life’s conditions that we tend to pass by.