Ruïne van de firma Thos. Emery Sons te San Francisco 1915

Curator: Willem Witsen created this pencil drawing, "Ruïne van de firma Thos. Emery Sons te San Francisco," in 1915. It currently resides at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: The first impression is melancholy, certainly. It’s rough, like a quickly jotted memory on toned paper…almost a lament for a lost structure. Curator: Indeed. Consider the means of production: pencil on paper, humble materials for a scene depicting utter devastation. The title tells us this is a ruin, specifically the ruin of a company in San Francisco. Note the inscriptions within the sketch itself: “For Sale” is clearly legible amidst the decay. This brings to mind the social context: 1915. Editor: Which means this must depict the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake. So, the “ruin” is not just architectural but a symbol of shattered enterprise and lost hope. I am struck by the arches and vertical lines of what remains, almost ghostly echoes of past grandeur amidst the debris. And a crude inscription refers to "Buckner's Thames" lot. Curator: And it speaks to the labour of rebuilding, the human effort required to literally piece back together a shattered economy and city. Even the toned paper whispers of age and endurance through the ravages of time. A reminder that even a quick sketch such as this documents an urban fabric's destruction and its impact on materials and the labour. Editor: Absolutely. Consider the arch, though incomplete, its symbolism persists. It's a classic motif, representing triumph and transition, even when fragmented by disaster. And "For Sale" is not only heartbreaking but reveals an economic reality--what became of this lot. The viewer knows these remnants, however forlorn, may soon be repurposed. What might Witsen suggest about capitalism with that visual juxtaposition? Curator: What you draw from the remnants and their representation helps inform that very debate, doesn't it? A drawing such as this demands reflection. Editor: Exactly. There's something profoundly affecting in these broken images of recovery, so raw and unvarnished in execution. Thank you.