Weg van Kleef naar Nijmegen 1844

Curator: Oh, isn't this evocative? I feel like I'm peering through time itself. The wind is practically howling off the page! Editor: This drawing, titled "Weg van Kleef naar Nijmegen," was rendered in pencil by Johannes Tavenraat in 1844. Its focus seems to be landscape in the mode of Romanticism. Note how Tavenraat uses these gnarled, wind-blown trees as a sort of repoussoir, framing the distant vista. Curator: Yes, and that's exactly it, isn't it? We’re invited to gaze beyond, to journey…to dream, really. But those trees! They’re so vulnerable, leaning away from the unseen force. They’re me, bracing against the daily storm of… you know. Editor: There is definitely tension there, a liminal zone created by those trees that divide us from the receding space of fields and horizon. I'd also point out Tavenraat’s attention to texture; he really teases out the rough surfaces. See how those marks almost tremble with dynamism. Curator: Oh, I agree completely! But I keep coming back to this… longing. Do you think the artist felt that too? A sort of restless yearning embedded in the pencil strokes? Perhaps, yearning for what lies on that “weg," that path. I’d love to stroll down it. It appears so serene compared to here. Editor: His controlled hatching suggests diligence but I concede the wispy strokes lend that sense of gentle reverie, something akin to a half-remembered place. But observe the formal constraints, for the artist keeps everything perfectly balanced by mirroring both trees. Note the inverted curves; he emphasizes form even within Romantic expression. Curator: Form, feeling, it's all part of the soup, isn't it? I still find this drawing hauntingly personal. A tiny window onto someone else's wandering heart. And after our chat, I must add that his diligence in mark-making brings its beauty forward! Editor: And perhaps in its intimacy, and that delicate formal architecture, lies the essence of Tavenraat's appeal to our own sensibilities, isn't it?