Turfschepen in het IJ c. 1910 - 1911

Editor: Here we have Willem Witsen’s "Turfschepen in het IJ," created around 1910 or 1911. It's an etching, and I'm struck by the muted colors. What's your interpretation of this work? Curator: As a materialist, my gaze immediately goes to the 'how' and the 'why' of this etching. The use of etching as a medium itself suggests a reproduction, a democratization of art in a way that painting perhaps couldn't achieve then. We should ask ourselves, who was this art being made for and how did the etching process play into this objective? Editor: That’s interesting. I hadn’t considered the choice of etching as a statement in itself. I was mainly thinking about the subject - these old turf ships. Curator: Exactly. Think about the boats, Editor. What cargo do they carry? Turf. In other words, peat - a fuel source directly tied to labor, landscape alteration, and even economic shifts of the era. Witsen isn't just showing us boats; he's showing us the material culture and the social realities embedded in these industrial objects, right? Editor: That makes a lot of sense. So the content *is* impacted by the medium. Does this then challenge the traditional boundary between “high art” and, let’s say, documentation of the working class and materials of the area? Curator: Precisely! By focusing on these labor-intensive, commonplace scenes and rendering them via an accessible medium like etching, Witsen is in my opinion bridging a perceived gap between “art” and daily lived experience. Editor: I never thought of Impressionism as highlighting those aspects of materiality before! Curator: It's about considering not just *what* is represented, but also *how* it's made and its societal role within a network of labour, material culture, and modes of production and circulation. Hopefully that broadens the aperture on works from this era. Editor: Definitely, that adds a new layer of understanding for me. I appreciate your insight into the means of production that brings everything into perspective.