A group of men gather at a table, each holding a strip of cloth. It’s impossible to tell what sort of work they do, but the strips look like they might be the sort of fabric that could serve as a band or ribbon. All appear focused on their work, but one does not bend his head down toward his task. Instead, he seems to be working by feel. In fact, all of these weavers are blind. In the early 1880s, Rappard visited the Institute for the Blind, in Utrecht, where he began an exploration of the lives of the men and women who lived and worked there. Such subjects were fashionable in the art world and Rappard returned to the Institute a number of times over the years, as he built his artistic career in Amsterdam and Paris, where he became a close friend and correspondent of both Theo and Vincent van Gogh. Rappard and van Gogh often discussed their interest in subjects such as craftspeople and peasants, and there are distinct parallels in the two artists’ work in the 1880s. Here, Rappard focuses on the individualized workers in a way that is very different from that of his more famous correspondent, achieving a balance between specific and general that van Gogh did not always achieve, or even seek. This large drawing dates from 1891, near the end of Rappard’s short career. He died the following year.

---