Herinneringsbord Boerenoorlog: vechtende mannen 1899 - 1925

Editor: Here we have "Herinneringsbord Boerenoorlog: vechtende mannen," created sometime between 1899 and 1925. It's stoneware, a ceramic print, and it's fascinating to see such a heavy topic depicted on something so domestic. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: Considering it as stoneware, it encourages us to think about the industrial context. Who made this? What were their working conditions? The means of production becomes central, as does its consumption. Was this everyday tableware, or a commemorative object for display? Editor: That’s a really interesting point about the production. I hadn't considered it that way. Knowing that this piece remembers the Boer War, is it unusual to put what is a traumatic scene onto everyday ware, such as stoneware? Curator: Precisely! The pairing of high-stakes history with the humbleness of a ceramic plate collapses the separation of elite and working class cultural production. We must remember that Petrus Regout— the factory—was not making ‘art’, it was producing ‘goods.’ And it also tells us something of the culture; what were their politics, that such a subject should be commodified? Editor: So by looking at the material and its manufacture, we’re actually getting insights into the broader social and political landscape of the time. That’s fascinating! Curator: Exactly. Thinking about art in terms of labor, consumption, and production, and that art is fundamentally rooted in the material conditions of its making challenges traditional art-historical values, doesn’t it? Editor: It really does shift the perspective. I will definitely be keeping that in mind moving forward.