Flodparti 18th century

Curator: Looking at P.G. Ramsart's "Flodparti," an etching and engraving dating back to the 18th century, currently housed here at the SMK, what's your first impression? Editor: Hmm, almost a dreamy sketch. There's something about the simplicity, the delicate lines, it makes me think of faraway lands read about in fairy tales when I was small. The sky's like combed wool…but grand! Curator: That sense of simplicity, or perhaps it's the directness, connects to the techniques prevalent during the baroque period, although here they are applied to a landscape instead of a religious or heroic subject. The detail, the density of line in areas, evokes the daily bustle of a port, perhaps one vital to the political landscape. Editor: Exactly. Daily life with its own little heroisms, don't you think? I keep coming back to that imposing fortress though. It doesn't seem to guard against any real threat in this rather pacific context…rather, it is some statement of power for itself? I find myself drawn to the two little figures on their vessel, at water level. We know how they move within the bigger theatre. Curator: Precisely, and Ramsart presents them almost as an addendum; note how tiny they appear next to the grand architecture and boastful sailing ships! The artist cleverly invites us to contemplate not just a cityscape, but the socioeconomic hierarchy it implies. Consider also the power invested in creating such views… whose stories get told? Whose left outside the frame? Editor: It's really amazing, isn't it, how an artwork can compress all these huge power relationships into one moment. All contained inside these gentle strokes. I keep picturing the print freshly made in its time, what it might have meant to then see the city presented in a little piece of paper…a controlled vision if there ever was one. Curator: Indeed, printmaking democratized image dissemination while inevitably reflecting the biases of its patrons. Ramsart’s “Flodparti" makes one pause, prompting considerations about historical perspective as it reverberates into our contemporary viewing practices. Editor: Beautiful. "Flodparti" gives us a moment, really, not just a pretty scene. Now I need to explore all the corners!