De jood Shylock, lopend door de straten 1865 - 1930

Curator: Here we have Jac van Looij's "The Jew Shylock Walking Through the Streets," a drawing created sometime between 1865 and 1930. Editor: My first impression? Raw, anxious energy. It's like catching a fleeting thought on paper, full of movement and underlying tension. You can almost feel the scratch of the pen. Curator: Indeed. The medium itself – pen and ink – lends a certain immediacy. Van Looij's process seems incredibly direct. We see the evolution of form as he sketches the figures into being. Look at how he captures the theatricality of the scene using economical lines. Editor: It's interesting to think about the physical act of creating this. Was this sketched quickly in a public place, catching a moment? Or constructed later in the studio from memory? You can feel that human element of uncertainty, a trace of the artist's hand, wrestling with form. Was this destined for reproduction in printed material for a popular audience? The hasty lines suggest labor and production as the driving force of the composition. Curator: It invites reflection on the character of Shylock himself. The weight of history, the stigma and drama of his being, almost visibly weighs down his shoulders, no? Editor: I am curious, how much does our awareness of the story, of "The Merchant of Venice," inform our reading of the piece? Is it possible to disassociate Shylock the figure in this sketch from the centuries of anti-Semitic interpretation of Shakespeare's play? Curator: The artist obviously felt that the story warranted representation. Van Looij takes the pen into his own hands and attempts to re-capture the complexity that perhaps he found there. Editor: Right, by using these relatively accessible materials, pen and paper, we get at something foundational about the image. It strips away the gloss. It exposes the work involved in the creation and interpretation of Shylock as a character. Curator: It seems that Van Looij sought to explore and expose Shylock's inherent struggle. His humanity perhaps. Thank you for shining a different light on it, seeing art’s physical manifestation through production! Editor: It’s crucial to consider the real conditions behind even the most ethereal images. To me, it's always been more human this way. Thank you for joining me on this art journey.