Architectuurstudies c. 1901

Curator: This drawing, titled "Architectuurstudies," comes to us from around 1901 by Gerrit Willem Dijsselhof, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It's a series of studies rendered in pencil. What springs to mind when you first look at it? Editor: Hmm, organized chaos? A bit like rummaging through an architect’s notebook. There's a kind of yearning, even in these skeletal lines. A yearning for form. Curator: Absolutely. Dijsselhof was a master of Art Nouveau, and even in these preparatory sketches, you can see the preoccupation with fluid lines, elegant curves. It's architecture trying to escape the right angle! Look at how he renders that decorative curl; it's practically alive. Editor: Yes, and thinking about the production... imagine the precision needed to translate those sketches into actual, inhabitable spaces, the labour involved in working with these fluid forms? We often separate "high art" from crafts, but Art Nouveau was obsessed with collapsing that hierarchy, with design infiltrating every corner of life, from a building's facade to the cutlery inside. Curator: Right! Dijsselhof also designed furniture and textiles, immersing himself fully in this aesthetic. There’s a tension here between function and decoration. Do these designs truly serve a purpose, or are they simply embellishments? Is that tension at play for you, or does it resolve neatly? Editor: The point *is* the embellishment! These swirls speak of nature made into industry. A building ceases to be purely functional; it becomes an extension of an artistic idea, consumed as an aesthetic object, much like we consume the sketch itself. Curator: I see it also as his creative energy bursting free in an almost unbridled way. There’s an appealing raw honesty to these unfinished lines. As if, if you look closely, you’ll be allowed a peak into his design vision. It's inviting you, the viewer, to participate. Editor: Yes, to collaborate with the sketch...to see what materials might bring Dijsselhof's architectural vision to life! Curator: It leaves one thinking about the constant exchange between idea and material reality and where exactly artistic meaning gets created. Editor: Exactly, the sketch is but a stage in production and reproduction – a testament to how concepts materialize into structures that shape not just spaces but our engagement with living.