Beroepen en figuren 1866 - 1902

Editor: This whimsical print, "Beroepen en figuren," by Jan Oortman, probably created sometime between 1866 and 1902, is graphic art. The tiny scenes depicting various professions, almost like a visual poem… They feel quite unique. What are your first impressions of this piece? Curator: It does feel very…old! Something unearthed from a long-forgotten attic trunk filled with ephemera. Each little frame pulses with the era's concerns. How do you react to the stories? Do they come across funny to you or rather earnest and slightly melancholy? Editor: Melancholy is definitely a good word! They feel very self-contained, with just enough text below to maybe get what’s happening. Like little glimpses into other lives… Was it supposed to be humorous, you think, or more didactic? Curator: Ah, but isn't life itself a comedy viewed from afar and a tragedy when we’re living in it? Perhaps it aims for both… and the slightly crude application of colours only emphasises this. Maybe, it wants to celebrate the lives of normal hard-working people in those times? Editor: I hadn't thought of it like that. So much is lost with time... Curator: But so much also remains. I love to think of each frame offering us the possibility of crafting our own tale of life! Editor: It certainly does inspire the imagination. Now, looking at this from the context of now it feels full of humour, and is a lot of fun.