Meisje knuffelt een pop op een bank 1918

Nelly Spoor created this black ink drawing of children in a park, but the date of execution is currently unknown. The linear quality of the drawing gives it a graphic, illustrative character. Spoor's work is rooted in a skilled tradition of fine art drawing, where the artist's hand is responsible for the form. She demonstrates mastery of depth and perspective with the simple deployment of hatching. There is a deliberate lightness of touch, rendering the work with fine detail, enhanced by the stark contrast of black ink on a bright ground. Yet there's also something of the commercial printer in this work. The precision and replicability of line suggests that it could have been made for reproduction in a book, or magazine. Rather than the grand ambition of fine art, it is meant for the page. Paying attention to the material tells us a great deal, therefore, about the artist's own position, and the social context for her work. We are left to consider its status as both a delicate, handcrafted artwork, and a design made for mass consumption.