Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 33 c. 1887 - 1892

Editor: Willem Witsen's "Abklatsch van de krijttekening op pagina 33," a pencil drawing from around 1887-1892, presents a ghostly landscape, or perhaps an abstraction *of* a landscape. What strikes me is the very ephemeral nature of the imagery. What do you see here? Curator: What I find compelling is the layered effect, like palimpsest. Witsen uses this technique of *abklatsch*, or rubbing, almost like archaeology. He's revealing something, but obscuring it at the same time. Consider the tonal quality - do you feel a sense of nostalgia evoked through that limited grayscale? Editor: Definitely. It’s like a memory, faded but still present. Is there a particular symbolism or message you feel he's conveying through the muted tones? Curator: It's not overt, more subtle. Think of the late 19th century - industrialization was rapidly changing landscapes. This almost ghostly rendering might be a visual lament for a vanishing pastoral life. He's using line and form, as the metadata notes, almost like a shorthand. What are *you* remembering, seeing this? Editor: I suppose I feel a sense of longing, a search for something that might not be fully recoverable, much like the rubbing technique itself. It's interesting to consider this in relation to larger cultural shifts too, the romanticism that would arise from that industrialization. Curator: Exactly. And through these visual echoes, he links us back to shared anxieties and a collective yearning for a perceived, perhaps idealized, past. It is remarkable how many layers can exist, visible to the eye, from this one piece.