Hondenkoppen 1840 - 1880

Curator: At first glance, the pen and ink drawing “Hondenkoppen”, created sometime between 1840 and 1880 by Johannes Tavenraat, presents as an exploratory sheet filled with studies of canine heads. What immediately strikes you about it? Editor: The sheer energy of the lines! It feels so raw, almost like capturing fleeting thoughts. Some of the dog portraits are simple outlines, while others have a real depth to them because of the repeated, dense hatching, so material. Curator: Precisely. Observe the variation in line weight. See how Tavenraat employs a delicate, almost tentative line to delineate the contours of certain snouts, while others, particularly around the eyes, are rendered with much more aggressive, emphatic strokes. This creates a deliberate hierarchy of focus. Editor: I notice too, how the paper itself seems to be a participant. There’s some visible aging, which is a reminder that this wasn’t some digitally produced perfection, but something handled, something crafted, a by-product of real labour. And those ink traces outside the head contours, are those deliberate or the result of the penmanship? Curator: A little bit of both, I suspect. It creates depth to the various drawings but without the need for color, and these textural aspects are heightened by the uniformity and minimal use of space. These dogs are not individual subjects as such; each rendering feeds into the collective study of 'dogness'. They become semiotic representations of canine identity, abstracted through Tavenraat’s formal treatment. Editor: Yes! I find it curious that we're referring to Tavenraat's hand skills while looking at dogs' heads. His skilled manipulation of pen and ink enables such subtle gradations and evokes texture but at the same time it feels spontaneous and almost impulsive! It makes one wonder about his intention here—practice, playful observation, commission or mere hobby? Curator: Whatever the intention, its beauty resides in its execution and abstraction. It invites us to appreciate Tavenraat's capacity for both analytical observation and artistic expression. Editor: And appreciate the intrinsic labor and its tangible materiality, through his use of such straightforward implements of making to deliver something special, from his hands directly into the viewer's consciousness.