Ontwerp voor een advertentie van B. Stoutjesdijk 1895

This is a design for an advertisement by Reinier Willem Petrus de Vries, made in the Netherlands, but the date is unknown. It promotes “Handel op Ned. Indie,” meaning “Trade with the Dutch Indies.” The layout is dense, the typography stylized and almost medieval. We see a suggestion of the products sold with images of books, and art supplies below. But it’s the reference to the Dutch Indies that speaks most clearly to its historical moment. The Dutch East India Company, or VOC, had a long and brutal history, extracting resources and labor from the Indonesian archipelago. This advertisement, in its own way, normalizes and promotes that exploitative relationship. As historians, we can research the circulation of these images, their intended audience, and their role in shaping public opinion about Dutch colonialism. This helps us to understand the cultural and economic forces at play in the Netherlands at the time.