Drie stadsgezichten c. 1828 - 1897

Curator: Before us is a work by Adrianus Eversen titled "Drie stadsgezichten," or "Three Cityscapes," rendered in pencil on paper, likely sometime between 1828 and 1897. Editor: There's an immediacy about these sketches, a quiet record. You get a sense of architectural shapes and suggested forms. The bareness speaks volumes; it's not a finished work but conveys a great deal of space. Curator: Eversen specialized in meticulously portraying Dutch city life during the 19th century. But it looks as though in these three pencil sketches, we see a rare glimpse into Eversen's process rather than the polished product for public consumption. This wasn't made for exhibition, of course; it likely comes from a sketchbook. I am curious to know if these streetscapes reflect a Netherlands wrestling with rapid urban and industrial transformation during that era. Editor: Definitely, there's the recognizable ghost of tradition mixed in with what was then "modernity," particularly visible through what look like public spaces like plazas. Those spaces may serve as icons of collective memory. Even the linear strokes imply structures that serve symbolic functions that go beyond the merely architectural. They hint at how cultural symbols become intertwined with city spaces to preserve meaning over long expanses of time. Curator: His finished paintings usually present bustling street scenes with market life, trade, and sometimes public works. I would hypothesize this shows that the visual strategies and even ideologies he used within public exhibitionary paintings were always preceded by smaller studies that capture how architecture shapes communal memory in Eversen’s imagination. This gives us an insight into the relationship between art making and memory construction at the popular level during his time. Editor: Looking again, the rapid lines almost evoke a dream-like impression, where specific architectural aspects begin to melt and blend. It underscores how deeply our perceptions of "place" are truly fluid and embedded within our interior psychological experiences. Curator: It seems in this raw, unfiltered state, these "Three Cityscapes" unveil Eversen's working processes as he interprets society. It's a great opportunity to analyze the relationship between art and memory at the societal level. Editor: I leave seeing beyond what I usually regard as objective physical matter within cities into an understanding of architectural presence and psychic landscape.