Blank side 1842 - 1845

This is a blank page from a sketchbook, used by Johan Thomas Lundbye in the first half of the 19th century. Its creamy tone comes from the linen and cotton rags used to make the paper, a labor-intensive process, eventually displaced by wood pulp in industrialized mills. When you look closely, you see the slight texture of the page, a subtle topography created by the screen used during manufacture. Consider the labor involved: collecting rags, pulping them, and then pressing the slurry into sheets. Each one would have been dried and sized with gelatin. The "blank side" of this work, is not really blank, but rather full of potential, a surface ready to receive the artist's ideas. It serves as a reminder that even the most seemingly humble materials have a history, and that the act of creation is always rooted in a network of social and economic relations. So, next time you come across a blank page, remember the history and tradition that makes it possible.