Twee vogels vliegen over een landschap met vee 1929

Editor: This pen and ink drawing from 1929 by Leo Gestel, “Two Birds Fly Over a Landscape with Cattle,” has such a storybook feel. It's like looking at a child's drawing, even though it has a certain mastery of composition. How should we approach an understanding of this artwork? Curator: I would say that Gestel’s deliberate choice of such basic materials invites us to consider the act of art making itself. The drawing foregrounds the labor involved, doesn't it? What is considered ‘high art’ versus a simple drawing in ink? Gestel challenges those traditional categories, highlighting the material reality of art production. Editor: That’s interesting. I hadn’t considered the idea of 'labor' so directly. The depiction of rural labour is certainly present: the cows grazing, someone working the land… the simple act of putting pen to paper itself. Curator: Precisely. We should question why Gestel chose these commonplace materials – pen and ink. It begs the question, does the ready availability of these materials democratize the creation of art? Is he trying to make art more accessible, pulling away from the elitism sometimes associated with oil painting? Editor: So you're saying that the materials and the social context in which they were made are crucial to understanding this drawing. Does the industrialization of the 1920s factor in at all? Were people concerned about the changing landscape, moving from rural life to cities? Curator: That's an excellent point. Consider the pastoral scenes: is Gestel subtly critiquing or romanticizing the labor involved? His work is far from naïve, and this awareness can lead to a greater understanding of how artists relate to societal developments. Editor: So by examining the materials and the conditions under which this drawing was produced, we can unpack the artistic and social issues it engages with. I’ll be sure to look closer at the medium in other works, too. Curator: Indeed. Examining the work's materiality provides a more grounded perspective that is far more politically and socially relevant than simply assessing "beauty" or artistic skill.