Schetsboek met 28 bladen 1885 - 1931

Curator: Right now, we are looking at “Schetsboek met 28 bladen,” or “Sketchbook with 28 Sheets,” crafted by Willem Bastiaan Tholen. Its creation spans a period from 1885 to 1931 and it currently resides in the Rijksmuseum. It is, of course, drawing on paper. Editor: It has this beautiful, aged texture. It feels like you could almost smell the studio in which it was made, the history just embedded within the fibers. Curator: Indeed. Think of it as a window into Tholen’s artistic process. As an artist deeply rooted in the Hague School, his work often captures the quiet beauty of everyday life. This sketchbook would've been his personal companion, housing his fleeting observations. Editor: So, a curated chaos, then? The charm of imperfection made deliberate? Curator: Exactly! It’s a collection of preliminary sketches, testing grounds for ideas. Perhaps landscapes along the Zaan River. He uses light and shadow masterfully. And notice how each page acts almost like an individual canvas, but together it forms a more substantial record of the artistic mind. Editor: I think also the fact it's not some polished finished project kind of enhances its power. We are just witnessing little ephemeral moments of inspiration from a distance. The marks become incredibly precious because they’re not meant for public display necessarily. Curator: Precisely. These aren’t grand pronouncements but intimate dialogues between artist and world. Editor: In that sense, this sketch is sort of like poetry. Like capturing sunlight in a jar. It makes you wonder what kinds of untold stories lie in these pages, both found and those waiting to be written. Curator: Beautifully put! It reminds us that true art isn’t always about the final product, but also about the journey of creation itself.