Studieblad met vier hoofden van mannen en vrouwen 1865 - 1936

Curator: Welcome. We're standing before a page titled "Studieblad met vier hoofden van mannen en vrouwen," or "Study Sheet with Four Heads of Men and Women." The artist is Nicolaas van der Waay, and this sketch using pencil on paper is dated sometime between 1865 and 1936. What catches your eye about this study? Editor: You know, it's the sheer immediacy of it. There's something very intimate about seeing these figures in their rawest form, like catching fleeting thoughts on paper. Almost ghostly, especially the two heads on the right! Curator: It certainly offers us a glimpse into the artist's process, doesn’t it? Van der Waay would have likely created this as a preliminary study for a larger painting or project. It gives us insight into his skill in rendering human features, and suggests the training he would have had as an academic artist. Editor: Yes, definitely a practice in seeing, almost like warming up. But beyond the skill, the lines reveal a certain emotional texture. The upward gaze of the two heads on the left has a sort of melancholic or hopeful quality about it. They look wistful. Do you sense that too? Curator: I think that impression could be shaped by modern interpretations of portraiture. During van der Waay's time, these character studies might have been viewed more pragmatically—as opportunities to practice specific angles, lighting techniques, and anatomical accuracy, devoid of explicit emotions, except for what they project based on socio-economic status of course. Editor: That makes sense, of course! It's like our gaze is always mediated, isn’t it, by all we know about how art *should* work. But maybe that's okay? To find the new and personal. Anyway, it makes me want to sketch people on the train, just to catch a fleeting expression before it disappears forever! Curator: Exactly. Study sheets such as these help remind us that art making is also about repetition and refinement. Editor: A quiet observation, I like that a lot. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. Hopefully this inspires our visitors to see and understand what portraiture meant for academic artists such as Van der Waay.