Haas en koppen 1840 - 1880

Curator: Here we have "Haas en koppen," or "Hare and Heads," a drawing by Johannes Tavenraat, created sometime between 1840 and 1880. It’s part of the Rijksmuseum's collection. Quite an assortment of sketches on a single sheet! What strikes you initially? Editor: It’s incredibly immediate, isn’t it? I'm drawn to the physicality of it—the way the ink sits on that slightly toned paper. You can almost feel the scratch of the pen. It’s clearly a working drawing, a glimpse into the artist's process, rather than a finished piece destined for a frame. Curator: Absolutely. Tavenraat was working within a period defined by Romanticism, when artists often explored themes of nature, emotion, and imagination. You can see how this sheet allows him to move between figuration and genre-painting, reflecting a broad engagement with contemporary artistic themes. The heads are reminiscent of caricatures, pointing toward a visual language of social commentary. Editor: The choice of ink is interesting. Its relative cheapness suggests accessibility and mass consumption of images, particularly since drawings like these found their way into sketchbooks. And the speedy application reveals a concern with craft – more of an everyday labor and personal skill in swift recording. Curator: Indeed, the sketch book's role can't be overlooked! It allowed artists a certain freedom. Consider the role academies played then; art production was strongly structured, but this allowed Tavenraat space outside that structure to experiment with form and content. These works ended up being prized because they provide windows into this experimentation. Editor: Exactly. The unfinished quality reveals how art-making, the labor, has a real physical process. Curator: Well, looking at this sheet certainly gives us insight into 19th-century artistic exploration and the tools that facilitated such creativity. Editor: For me, it's been a good reminder that art isn't just about the grand, finished product; it's also about the intimate, messy, very human act of making.