Portret van een heer, waarschijnlijk Walter Cohen 1874 - 1925

Editor: This is "Portret van een heer, waarschijnlijk Walter Cohen" - Portrait of a Gentleman, probably Walter Cohen – by Jan Veth, dated between 1874 and 1925. It’s a pencil and charcoal drawing. There is something very immediate and real about the portrait... What aspects of the work strike you most profoundly? Curator: Well, I immediately think about the material reality of its creation. Consider the physical act of drawing itself. Pencil and charcoal - humble materials, easily sourced, and manipulated to create this representation of wealth and status. Who owned these pencils? Who sharpened them? Editor: That’s a completely different angle from how I initially approached it! The labor involved in art production isn’t always at the forefront of my mind. Curator: Exactly! Look at the subtle gradations achieved through layering. Veth wasn't simply capturing a likeness, he was engaging in a repetitive process, each stroke building upon the last. How does that connect to Cohen himself? A member of the bourgeoise? His success likely built the same way, stroke by stroke. Editor: I see your point. The repetitive nature of the medium, pencil on paper, is itself telling. Did the constraints or affordances of charcoal and pencil impact the distribution and value of such commissioned work? Curator: Precisely. The materials shape the artwork but they equally reveal the artist's societal position, artistic ambitions and labor. That he wasn’t using oil paints suggests the work, even commissioned, operated within certain economic constraints or social dynamics. Editor: That’s given me a new lens through which to view portraiture – looking beyond the subject to the context of its making. Thanks for sharing that. Curator: And thank you for bringing your fresh perspective to the fore.