Stier en een kalf 1809 - 1841

Curator: This lovely drawing, rendered in delicate pencil, is titled "Stier en een kalf," or "Bull and Calf" in English. It was created sometime between 1809 and 1841 by Joannes Bemme. It's a humble but striking image. Editor: There’s a starkness to it, isn’t there? A quiet, almost mournful simplicity. It feels very immediate, almost like a preliminary sketch. The composition focuses all of our attention on the subjects themselves. Curator: The artist was working during a time of great agricultural and social change, reflecting in a way how people were deeply connected to nature and agriculture in daily life, observing animal behavior so carefully. It makes one wonder if there were symbolic associations for people at the time too. Editor: You know, I wonder about the materiality of this drawing. The type of pencil used, the paper itself – was it readily available, a luxury item, or perhaps even recycled? The texture alone could tell us so much about the social context of art-making for someone like Bemme. The marks of creation here are so tangible. It really highlights artmaking as a form of labor itself, and maybe a humble, underappreciated one. Curator: That’s a fascinating perspective. I’m drawn to how these images are more than simple livestock, embodying deeper notions of growth and dependency, of continuity... Do they perhaps evoke a sense of family bonds, or perhaps signal agricultural prosperity through such imagery of a herd and offspring? I sense an awareness and commentary on what rural life means. Editor: I see that too. The labor involved in keeping cattle is also very pronounced, because it shows not only an interest but more daily life for the people creating them too. In a way this kind of preliminary sketch becomes more potent of a social record. Curator: Looking at the calf in contrast to the mature bull creates that intimate narrative... I wonder if Bemme was trying to touch a nerve. Editor: Maybe unintentionally. These objects—paper, pencil, artworks—are witnesses, really. Curator: A sketch with so much depth; now that's something to behold. Editor: Indeed; the raw, material process shines through so strongly, it gives me a renewed appreciation for art in the everyday.