Twee staande vissersvrouwen, in gesprek 1869 - 1941

Johannes Abraham Mondt made this sketch of two fisherwomen, we don’t know when, with graphite on paper. I can imagine Mondt outside in the elements making quick decisions, marking the paper. The marks, lines and smudges are thick and thin, and the figures emerge from these gestures, their forms simultaneously appearing and disappearing from view. I think the marks Mondt made feel so immediate and instinctive, like a shorthand to describe what he’s seeing. You can sense him trying to capture the essence of his subjects: their stance, their weight, their clothes. Maybe he was thinking about social realism and the labour of the women. I’m wondering what they might have been talking about? What are they holding in their hands? I’m thinking of other sketches by artists like Käthe Kollwitz, whose graphic works also depict the lives of ordinary people with sensitivity and empathy. It reminds us that artists are always in dialogue, responding to the world around them and the art of their peers, each adding their own perspective to the conversation.