Studie van een staande man met lange jas en wandelstok 1818

Editor: This drawing, "Studie van een staande man met lange jas en wandelstok" made with pencil in 1818 by Cornelis Steffelaar, depicts a man with a long coat and walking stick. It seems like a preparatory sketch for something larger. What stands out to you when you look at this drawing? Curator: What interests me is the physical making of the image, how the labor involved in producing this type of drawing can highlight aspects of class and social status in 19th-century Dutch society. Consider the ready availability and low cost of pencils and paper compared to say, oil paints. Editor: That's interesting. So you're saying the choice of materials speaks to the subject's status? Curator: Partially. Think about who would commission, create, and consume such a portrait. The very act of depicting this man using readily available materials implicates the artist, patron, and sitter in a specific social web. Were the sitter and artist working under the constraints of material circumstances? What would compel someone to capture and consume a portrait made this way versus any other form? Editor: I see what you mean. It makes me think about the function of portraits in different social classes and the economics behind artistic materials. I hadn’t considered that before. Curator: Exactly! How does mass production and consumption influence who gets seen and how they get seen, in our digital and analog worlds? Thinking about production shapes what we see and what we learn to value, doesn't it? Editor: It definitely changes my perspective. I’ll be paying more attention to the materials and processes artists use from now on!