Annotaties 1886 - 1908

Editor: Here we have "Annotaties," made with mixed media including drawing and ink on paper. It was created sometime between 1886 and 1908 by George Hendrik Breitner. The overall effect is quite intimate, almost like leafing through a private journal. What draws your eye in this piece? Curator: What I observe first is the sheer density of marks. Breitner's composition teems with hand-lettering, hand-written annotations, and hand-drawn typefaces. The aged paper acts as a substrate, revealing traces of process through palimpsests. We're dealing not with a unified image, but rather a textual layering, an accumulation of moments. Editor: So, you’re focusing on the materiality of the work and how it’s constructed? Curator: Precisely. The very grain of the paper invites inspection, the ink's texture—perhaps dried hastily—provides clues. These are material facts with which we engage, irrespective of some narrative. The writing is also an aspect: is it legible? How do these fragments create unity and dissonance, form, and disarray? Do we consider "order" important to Breitner? Editor: I hadn’t thought about how the legibility of the text affects the art. Now, noticing that it's both there, yet illegible adds another dimension. Thank you! Curator: Indeed. Close attention to composition offers endless opportunity for appreciation.