De verstrooide

This color lithograph, titled "De verstrooide" or "The Absent-Minded Man," was created by Gordinne. As a lithograph, this print was made using a flat stone or metal plate, drawn on with a greasy substance, then treated so that the ink adheres only to the design. The choice of lithography is itself telling. This was a relatively inexpensive means of mass production, perfectly suited to the dissemination of humorous imagery to a broad public. We see a series of vignettes, each depicting the title character in a different state of befuddlement. It is in effect a pre-cinematic form of comic strip. The very idea of reproducing images cheaply speaks to a rising middle class, who would have had both the time and income to enjoy such a visual jest. The humor derives from the incongruity of a man out of touch with his immediate surroundings - a pointed commentary, perhaps, on the disorienting effects of modernity itself. The production process, therefore, is intimately connected to the print's social context and meaning.