Aantekening betreffende Else Berg c. 1900 - 1935

This is "Aantekening betreffende Else Berg", or Notes Regarding Else Berg, made at an unknown date, by an anonymous artist, with pen on paper. The flowing script and ruled lines give the impression of a page torn from a ledger book, an inventory, or list. It suggests art as business. The cursive writing is not uniform; the letters are compressed and elongated in places. The ink varies in tone from dark to light, suggesting the pen was refilled as the list was being made. The eye is drawn to the top line ‘Else Berg’ written in a larger hand, identifying the list as pertaining to the works of this artist. It makes me think that art making is about the ongoing process of keeping track, record keeping, an office job. The list is of artworks with associated prices written in the right-hand column. Some are scratched out, perhaps these were sold? Walter Benjamin described artworks as having an ‘aura’. I wonder if those marks are ghosts of the artwork’s auric field? The handwritten inscription and the document like feel puts me in mind of the work of Hanne Darboven. Like her, this piece invites us to consider the relationship between language, systems, and the passage of time.