Le chevalier noir / De zwarte ridder 1833 - 1911

Curator: This comic strip, "Le chevalier noir/De zwarte ridder" by Brepols & Dierckx zoon, spanning from 1833 to 1911, is quite striking in its narrative structure and early comic art style. The printmaking process is interesting because it would have involved a kind of mass production and a division of labour to distribute it among the masses. Editor: It’s so fascinating to see the development of comics as a medium. What does this specific piece reveal to you? Curator: For me, its materials and mass distribution raise a bunch of important points about nineteenth-century society. Where would something like this be sold, and to whom? We see, for example, a blurring of lines between art, craft, and industry. How might this have been bound into something for children? Its existence as an ephemeral mass-produced item speaks volumes about the accessibility of visual stories at this time, and its connection to everyday life rather than an exclusive 'high art' experience. The themes portrayed may seem trivial now, but at the time there was likely no end of demand. Editor: So you see this comic strip not just as an artwork, but as a kind of historical artifact of material culture? Curator: Precisely! How it was made, how it circulated, and who consumed it tell a compelling story of its time, challenging traditional notions of what constitutes 'art'. This brings art closer to craft. Did this affect how seriously such pieces would have been regarded? Editor: That's a really great perspective. It changes how I appreciate not just this artwork, but others of this era as well. I didn’t expect to walk away thinking so deeply about something as simple as the labor used to distribute comic strips. Curator: These details about production and consumption can be more evocative and significant than traditional notions of aesthetics. It forces us to re-evaluate these often-overlooked visual texts and their significance to a wider social history of image production.