Gevel van een huis, mogelijk een boerderij 1875 - 1923

Curator: This pencil drawing, likely executed between 1875 and 1923, comes to us from the hand of Willem Witsen. It's titled "Gevel van een huis, mogelijk een boerderij," which translates to "Facade of a house, possibly a farm." What's your initial take? Editor: Hmm, evocative. It feels incomplete, doesn’t it? Like a fleeting memory sketched on a napkin. The rough lines suggest a hurried impression of rural life. Curator: Indeed, the medium is modest—pencil on paper—but the suggestion of detail is compelling. Witsen's realist style peeks through in the careful depiction of architectural elements, the suggestion of windows, roof lines... Editor: Realism is a contested term, isn't it? What reality is he representing? A bucolic fantasy for an increasingly urban gaze? These renderings of buildings often romanticize the rural, obscuring the labour and class dynamics inherent in agricultural life. Is he critiquing or just observing? Curator: Perhaps a bit of both? The drawing is quick, informal. It reads to me as more of an exercise in observation, not necessarily invested in social critique. There's an appealing simplicity to the forms, like a child's drawing almost. It could be argued it mirrors a society equally unburdened or naive to realities it might rather romanticize. Editor: Fair point. But let’s not forget the political power of seeming simplicity. Consider how the “simple life” has been weaponized in various nationalistic projects throughout history, invoking a return to an imagined, often exclusionary, past. Curator: You are absolutely right, the idea of “simplicity” is never politically neutral. Looking at it now, I feel this work really represents our innate need for ‘home’ doesn’t it, wherever and whatever that is. Editor: Exactly. "Home" isn't just a building. It's a site of complex negotiations of power, belonging, and identity. And this humble sketch invites us to question whose homes, and whose stories, are valued and visible in the art world and beyond. It all depends what you project into it.