Portret van de vrouw van Wilhelmus Johannes Steenhoff 1873 - 1932

Curator: Here we have "Portret van de vrouw van Wilhelmus Johannes Steenhoff," created sometime between 1873 and 1932. It's currently held at the Rijksmuseum. A drawing using pencil on toned paper. What's your first take? Editor: Intimate, tentative even. The light pencil work gives it a fleeting quality, as if capturing a thought rather than a fixed likeness. It seems almost a preliminary sketch rather than a finished portrait. Curator: Indeed, the visible process is compelling. The choice of pencil and toned paper suggests a certain accessibility, almost domesticity in its creation. One can imagine the artist rapidly sketching his wife during a quiet moment. No need for costly materials. Editor: Formally, I find the composition interesting. The asymmetry created by the subject’s gaze directed slightly off-center. How the values shift creating depth mostly on her face, drawing the eye. It really leverages the medium. Curator: The context is key, of course. Consider Steenhoff himself, and his labor and the time he was using making this sketch and the implicit relationship that comes across. Was it a paid commission like work? Editor: I find myself responding to its incompleteness, the sketched quality almost implying constant becoming, not yet rigid and frozen in time, really speaking to her interior world. I find myself getting lost looking at it. Curator: It definitely defies typical notions of "high art," and brings into question those traditional boundaries by the very deliberate rawness and visible process in it. There is also some great use of consumer product here. Editor: Perhaps. I read the subtlety as an elegant expression of capturing likeness, using the simplicity of materials to give a deeper understanding of temporality. This adds an introspective nuance. Curator: So, we’ve ended up touching on artistic process, the historical and societal backdrop, and also aesthetic expression within very limited available items to produce the artwork. A rather thorough conversation for a seemingly simple drawing, wouldn’t you agree? Editor: I would. Seeing the technique in the simple execution has given me an opportunity to think of some complexities present. Definitely a powerful work, now having studied it for longer.