Schaapherder bij zijn kudde c. 1884 - 1887

Curator: Looking at this work by Willem Witsen, entitled "Schaapherder bij zijn kudde," made circa 1884-1887, we find a sketch rendered in pencil on paper, currently held in the Rijksmuseum collection. What's your initial response to it? Editor: Raw, unfinished. Like a fleeting thought captured with the bare minimum of lines. There’s a tenderness in its incompleteness. I almost feel like I'm peering into the artist’s mind as he wrestled with the subject. Curator: The formal composition is intriguing, wouldn't you agree? Note how Witsen uses a minimal application of the medium. Observe the economy of the line; a detailed observational sketch, yet also seemingly amateurish, even quirky. We see a landscape suggested through minimal mark-making to frame figuration. Editor: Exactly! That quirkiness makes it. The shepherd and sheep feel… almost accidental. As if Witsen was more interested in capturing the essence of the field than its inhabitants. There is no visual hierarchy and you wander as a viewer as much as the sheep in their sketchwork environment. Curator: And observe the contrast between the careful detail in rendering a tree and the almost childlike simplicity of the sheep themselves. This, combined with its status as an unfinished work, enhances its personal sketchbook aura. Editor: It’s funny, isn’t it? How something so unrefined can feel so complete? It speaks to the power of suggestion. Witsen gives us just enough information, then trusts us to fill in the rest. And it evokes that hazy quiet of being in a field of sheep – somehow both peaceful and… slightly unnerving, you know? They are always watching. Curator: A successful piece, despite its informal nature and clear intentions as a preliminary study. Editor: Yes, it proves sometimes the most interesting art is what wasn’t intended for the public eye. This light pencil work gives it such an innocent, quiet intensity that’s quite moving to witness.