Landschap met boerenhuis 1647 - 1688

Editor: This drawing, "Landscape with Farmhouse" by Cesare Gennari, dates from between 1647 and 1688. It's done in pencil, and while the scene feels idyllic, the details are rendered in a way that almost feels like a hurried observation. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: The hurried, almost obsessive hatching gives the drawing a vital connection to the means of its own production. Consider the artist's hand, tirelessly applying graphite to paper. What sort of labor does this meticulous rendering reflect, and what function does it play in Gennari’s practice, perhaps a form of observation related to emerging capitalist systems? Is this a celebration of land, or simply a demonstration of wealth and the system of land ownership and use, made accessible through pencil? Editor: That's interesting! I hadn't considered the repetitive marks as a form of labor itself, or that it might speak to that wider economic picture. Curator: And what of the composition? Note how the pencil is deployed differently depending on the object. See how that dense concentration emphasizes the farmhouse as both literally material, made of solid things, but also culturally important and therefore worthy of emphasis and skill? In comparison, the open field is drawn almost in the same way as the sky: a lightly layered substrate supporting human construction. The means, in a very real way, is the message. Editor: That distinction between the rendering of the farmhouse and the rendering of nature...that’s really compelling. So, rather than a simple depiction of a pretty place, the drawing embodies this artist's understanding, and maybe even promotion, of the role of humans, even their *ownership* within the natural world. Curator: Precisely! And even though he lived centuries ago, through the deliberate deployment of graphite, Gennari still has a clear, almost urgent statement to make, from the choice of tool to the weight of the line. We, as audiences, gain a lot by slowing down, observing, and recognizing the active social labor inherent in this kind of rendering. Editor: Thanks! It’s really shifted how I see this drawing – I'm considering its production in a whole new light.