Schrijvende jongen 1887 - 1916

Curator: We're looking at Willem Pothast's "Schrijvende jongen," or "Writing Boy," likely created sometime between 1887 and 1916. It's an ink drawing on paper. Editor: It's a lovely little scene. It makes me think of dusty schoolrooms and the endless effort of putting words down on paper, that focus... I bet his tongue's sticking out a bit. Curator: The composition directs our gaze to the boy's concentrated expression, with the diagonal lines of his arm and the desk converging towards his hand holding the pen. It really centers the act of writing as the focal point. We can delve into the semiotics of this seemingly simple piece. Editor: Semiotics! Sure, but I look at that wobbly chair and that slightly rumpled shirt and I just think of childhood and how serious you took every little thing. Do you think he's writing a poem? Or maybe just copying something out of a book? Curator: Regardless, consider the use of line here—the cross-hatching that defines form and shadow. It is very meticulous, which, interestingly, contrasts with the looseness of the background details. This kind of strategic control guides the viewer to attend only to the salient information. Editor: Yes, "strategic control"... or maybe Pothast just got bored of the background! It feels incomplete, somehow adding to the overall impression of fleeting childhood moments. It’s all there and then…gone. I guess in its essence, it represents nostalgia as a concept of selective remembering. Curator: That incompleteness allows for projection. From a formalist perspective, that allows us, the viewers, to actively complete the piece by engaging with the lines and negative space presented to us. It transforms spectatorship into an active role. Editor: Maybe, but more likely we just wonder what the poor kid's got to write. All that intense focus on his brow and pen makes me think…will he make a mistake? Will he need to start again? Curator: His potential frustrations perhaps symbolize our shared intellectual and physical labours... the challenges of imposing thought onto matter? Editor: Or maybe tomorrow, he’ll make paper planes from it. I wonder. What would have become of his dreams?