Straathoek 1901 - 1907

Curator: Let’s take a look at "Straathoek," a pen and pencil drawing on paper by Willem Witsen, made sometime between 1901 and 1907. It resides here at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It feels fleeting. Almost a forgotten thought sketched quickly in a notebook. The limited use of line contributes to a feeling of ambiguity. Curator: Indeed. Note how Witsen captured the cityscape. The visible page of the sketch book, including the binding to the left, adds another layer. A drawing of a street corner but also very much a record of the artistic process. Editor: The 'Straathoek,' or 'Street Corner,' gives us the bare bones of a cityscape, but there’s also something forlorn about it. Street corners often act as stages for life, full of symbolic crossroads or meetings but this one appears completely desolate. Curator: Witsen has zeroed in on a simple, almost mundane scene. A partial building facade, defined by stark lines, anchored vertically in the frame against the largely empty surrounding paper. The lines used define it materially but do not fill out a great story of this urban architecture. Editor: I see what you mean about its visual impact, but I can't shake off the sense of waiting that comes to mind. Street corners in cityscapes carry so much collective unconscious baggage with them from meetings and partings of everyday life. Curator: Do you see these stark lines acting as symbolic constraints? Editor: I think that could be one way of reading them. Even within what could have been the bustle of a street setting there is now absence. What could the shadowlike hatching on one of the supports suggest in the history of building and urban dwelling? Curator: That could imply several things, certainly a change from earlier traditions of urban life perhaps. The artwork does evoke several discussions doesn't it? Editor: Definitely a thought provoking visual record, capturing the fleeting essence of the city, while hinting at some sort of loss. Curator: I concur. It leaves a lot open to interpretation structurally and symbolically.