Colossal drawings, prints and paintings make it clear that ‘size matters’ ★★★★☆

The enormous size of the (art) works shown at the exhibition XXL paper did not always serve an artistic purpose, but is often a feast for the eyes.

There are plenty of great works of art. Michelangelo’s muscles painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Claes Oldenburg’s oversized trowels, pickaxes and baseball bats. Antony Gormley’s squatting (or pooping?) giant on the Houtribdijk near Lelystad.

The only question is whether size always has an artistic origin: whether ‘size matters’ is born purely from stylistic motives. Not necessarily, so late the exhibition XXL paper – Big, bigger, biggest! in the Rijksmuseum. On the contrary. The majority of the 27 drawings, graphics and paintings on paper in the museum’s collection have no artistic pretensions at all, but they are large. Damned big.

It is a refreshing observation.

One of the most beautiful examples is the 16-metre-long, thirty-sheet etching of the funeral procession of Frederik Hendrik from 1651. It looks as if the long procession, on its way between the Binnenhof in The Hague and the royal vault in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft, appears in its entirety. had to be depicted. Including all the hundreds of mourners, in long gloomy coats and with flags fluttering. A mile-long procession that dictated the length of the series of etchings which, as a sales catalog from 1671 touted the print, had been printed ‘on the largest paper’. Although, not big enough: because the whole procession could not get on it, it disappears on one side, under a gate of honor, into the distance.

Or take the intriguing, narrow, 5 meter high blueprint of the coast of Japan, from the early 20th century. The purpose of the drawing determined the shape and length of this ‘cyanotype’: the construction of the railway line between Toyama and Naoetsu, on Japan’s west coast. The 130-kilometre rail connection required the contractors and supervisors to draw up a meticulous construction drawing, which could be rolled up in parts. But when rolled out, the drawing is a feast for the eyes because of its blue glow, the itchy white lines and topographical indications.

Pragmatism as the guiding principle of what a drawing should look like: you cannot imagine in advance that the result can also provide an aesthetic pleasure. Which is so.

Of course, Titian’s 2.2 meter wide woodcut confirms his fame as an artistic great. Titian is said to have been known for his graphics rather than his paintings. Surprising, but not unjustified. The swirling lines in the landscape are powerful and rhythmic and just as modern as in Vincent van Gogh’s later drawings.

You could say that the turbulent sea of ​​lines in Titian’s woodcut justifies the size of twelve sheets of paper. But the exhibition XXL Paper also shows that size itself is an artistic factor. The metre-high ‘cartons’, the working drawings for the stained glass windows of the Haarlem St. Bavokerk, give you an overwhelming sense of grandeur that would not surprise you from the pews in the building itself.

Dimensions as an independent factor of importance, perhaps the ‘Family Tree of the Habsburg House’, dating from 1535, bears witness to this the most. It took 7 meters of paper to illustrate the rich family history of Charles V. The size alone shows the importance that the Roman-German king and emperor, lord of the Netherlands, king of Spain and archduke of Austria wanted to bestow upon himself. For every subject at a glance a reason to shiver at his power. Drawn out on a small A4 sheet, Karel had only been a little Karel.