River valles in the mountains 

Franz Kobell made this landscape, River valley in the mountains, with pen and brush in gray ink. The artist built up the scene line by line, with thousands of controlled strokes that reveal the texture of every rock and leaf. While landscapes like this may seem like neutral depictions of nature, they’re deeply rooted in the social and economic life of their time. The paper itself was a commodity, made in mills that depended on water power and trade networks. The ink, too, would have been carefully formulated and purchased. And the scene itself subtly evokes the relationship between people and the land, with figures driving livestock across the river. All these material conditions remind us that even the most seemingly straightforward artwork is the result of human labor and resources, and that the division between art and craft can be a very blurry one indeed.