Appels, bessen, braam en druiven 1820 - 1833

Editor: We’re looking at "Apples, Berries, Bramble and Grapes" made sometime between 1820 and 1833 by Anton Weiss, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. It's a drawing created with graphite and colored pencil. It feels like a detailed study of natural forms. What draws your eye in this work? Curator: I see a confluence of material explorations. We’ve got graphite, a material sourced from the earth, meticulously rendered to depict other natural commodities – fruit. What kind of labour was involved in gathering, transporting and eventually rendering such a subject in art? This tension between natural product and material craft invites investigation. Editor: So, it's less about the symbolic meaning of the fruit, and more about the artistic process and the materials used to create it? Curator: Exactly. Think about it. The artist had access to coloured pencils – a manufactured item of increasing popularity at the time. How did access to materials influence artistic production and choices? Editor: It's fascinating to consider how the means of production, even for art supplies, play a role in what is created. Do you think the choice of drawing, rather than painting, reveals something about the work's intent? Curator: Definitely. Drawing often serves as a preliminary step, a study. But here, it’s the finished piece. Was it destined to be more, and the artist or their patrons couldn’t afford further medium expense? Or was there an inherent celebration of its materiality, and a choice of intention to reveal more ‘earthly’ making process? Editor: I never considered the economics of art making in quite this way. Now, I’m wondering about what the choice of these particular fruits may tell us of its socioeconomic background... Curator: Right! And it shows that every artistic decision is tied to materials, and processes that exist within a wider context.