Twee voorstellingen van een hek en een brug 1809 - 1841

Joannes Bemme made this drawing of a gate and bridge with pen and ink in the late 18th or early 19th century. The monochromatic ink defines the forms with carefully placed fine lines, giving depth and shadow to the subjects. The wooden bridge and gate presented here are common elements of the Dutch countryside. What’s interesting is the way that Bemme has rendered these structures: not as idealized objects but as functional constructions made from rough-hewn materials. You can practically feel the splintered texture of the weathered wood. The bridge is a crude assembly of timber, while the gate appears broken and worn. It takes no small amount of labor to produce even the simplest wooden structure, but here the evidence of hard work has been subsumed into the landscape. Ultimately, Bemme’s drawing reminds us that even the most apparently humble subjects can reveal the intersection of making, materiality, and the natural world.