Heuvel met gras c. 1876 - 1888

Editor: Right now I am standing in front of "Heuvel met gras", or "Hill with grass", a drawing made by Anton Mauve from around 1876 to 1888. It's a pencil sketch on paper, and it strikes me how immediate it feels, like a quick observation. What do you see in this piece? Art Historian: The immediacy you’re picking up on comes, in part, from the labor visible in the marks. Look at the density of the pencil strokes on the left. The artist wasn’t just depicting a grassy hill, he was engaged in a repetitive process of mark-making. This wasn’t just about representing something but also a testament to the physical act of drawing. Consider the paper, the type of pencil; these were mass produced materials reflecting an industrialized art market. Editor: That's interesting, I was so focused on what was represented, rather than how it was made! Does the ‘Realism’ style play into that, showing the honest labor involved? Art Historian: Precisely! Realism, in this context, wasn’t just about visual accuracy. It also mirrored a shift towards valuing the working class and everyday scenes. Mauve's sketch shows how artists were incorporating industrial materials into traditionally ‘high art’ forms. What does the unfinished section suggest to you? Editor: Maybe the artist stopped because of time, or perhaps to emphasize the materiality of the paper, setting off the denser pencil strokes in the grass. It almost challenges the viewer to consider the process. Art Historian: Exactly. We begin to question the nature of artmaking. Is it the finished product, or the labor and materials involved? Seeing it that way gives value to all stages of artistic labor, even the seemingly ‘incomplete.’ Editor: I never thought about it that way. Thanks, I'm seeing the drawing in a whole new light now. Art Historian: Indeed, art history can change a great deal when seen through the lens of labor and materials!