Toeschouwers bij restaurant Trianon op het Leidseplein te Amsterdam 1922 - 1926

Curator: This pencil drawing by Otto Verhagen is titled "Toeschouwers bij restaurant Trianon op het Leidseplein te Amsterdam" and dates to between 1922 and 1926. Editor: It's bustling! So many hats, such immediate activity. I’m struck by the rapid, almost frenetic quality of the lines; it feels like a fleeting glimpse captured quickly. Curator: Indeed. You sense that energy precisely because it is a sketch. Let's think about the materiality, pencil on paper. It’s clearly a preliminary study. These sketches from Verhagen’s personal sketchbook allow an intimate look into his process of observing the leisure classes and his ways to illustrate the relationship between the consumption practices and public spectacle of that historical period. Editor: And Leidseplein was, and still is, such a crucial social space in Amsterdam. The choice to depict this location immediately places the artwork within the cultural fabric of the city. Was Trianon a significant gathering place for a specific social class at this time? Its name might have implied grandeur or aspirational luxury. Curator: Exactly! We see the embodiment of leisure culture in the visible materials, think cigars, fine clothing. Look at the detail in rendering their coats. Note also how this quick notation, though not an explicit advertisement, still gives real estate in its frame to the 'Trianon,' contributing in its own way to the establishment’s symbolic power and the location in popular imagery of the epoch. Editor: It’s fascinating to consider how sketches like this, raw and immediate, contribute to our understanding of the era’s visual culture. Think how mass media helped create those gathering spaces, especially amongst the city's elite. How these venues functioned, both socially and symbolically. And that’s one daring pooch under the arm there, isn’t it? Curator: Right, the sketchbook's form and the chosen medium, provide accessibility to observe these realities on site. Such drawings acted as initial phases that may have been circulated in social milieus beyond the fine art sphere, contributing to how we build understanding and reflect critically on culture of urban settings and social dynamics in general. Editor: Thinking about the legacy of Amsterdam’s leisure spots during the interwar, that the art piece allows to glimpse in the daily scenes is interesting for the construction of a collective imaginary about the role that consumption habits played in creating these types of communities. Curator: Agreed, through examining seemingly humble, unassuming means such as pencil on paper, the drawing sheds new light on dynamics that shaped an epoch! Editor: A captivating quick view.