Zeilschepen en figuren in een roeiboot 1900 - 1931

Curator: Immediately, I see a rather ghostly fleet adrift in the off-white sea of the page. Editor: Well, ghostly seems about right, doesn’t it? We're looking at Willem Bastiaan Tholen's "Zeilschepen en figuren in een roeiboot," a sketch dating from the early 20th century, held here at the Rijksmuseum. It appears to be executed in pencil, a quick study of sailing ships and figures. Curator: There’s an almost dreamlike quality here, the bare minimum required to conjure boats and figures, so rudimentary they become universal, recalling ancient trade routes and the symbolic weight of maritime voyages across time. Editor: Observe how Tholen’s swift, sure hand renders the sails as planes of stark white, framed by lines implying shape and shadow, their geometric forms hinting at something just beyond representation. Note that the perspective feels deliberately skewed. It isn't quite the "correct" rendering of the subject, but a rapid study, exploring shapes more than realism. Curator: The repetition lends itself to contemplation on memory and longing. The act of sketching something several times almost feels like trying to capture a fading memory, trying to solidify these transient experiences, doesn’t it? Like archaeology on a single page, each sketch becomes a layer, uncovering and re-interpreting the essence of the subject. Editor: It is tempting to view these types of sketches romantically, but for a moment let's set aside those implications and just examine them as abstract compositions on a page. Each impression has a graphic weight, a balance between dark and light. Curator: Yes, a balancing act that allows each little boat to carry such substantial symbolic cargo: dreams, voyages, journeys into the unknown… a very personal lexicon the artist has allowed us to view. Editor: Ultimately, Tholen provides just enough information for our minds to fill the blanks, the bare minimum needed to create a rather complete image in the imagination. Curator: So, we become participants, not just viewers. I appreciate being invited on such a journey. Editor: Indeed, it is as much our work as it is Tholen’s at this point.