Dieren 1850 - 1881

Curator: This print, entitled “Dieren,” dating from 1850 to 1881, comes from the hand of Dirk Noothoven van Goor and employs lithography. What are your immediate thoughts? Editor: It’s fascinating! The composition feels so distinctly of its time, doesn't it? Almost like a page from an illustrated encyclopedia, showing little glimpses of narrative moments with each animal. A pre-cinematic storyboard about nature! Curator: Precisely! Consider how such imagery might have shaped perceptions of the natural world at that time. Before accessible photography, prints like these served as primary sources of information. How do you read the depictions? Editor: Well, there’s an interesting duality. On one hand, there is an attempt at a scientific portrayal. On the other, these aren't merely specimens; they are situated in anthropomorphic tableaus. Notice the fox seemingly 'speaking' to the squirrel! It's not simply biology, but social commentary using animals as allegorical figures. Curator: A potent point. The narrative aspect connects it to folklore traditions, and certainly informed a broader understanding about Dutch national identity as shaped by the natural world around them, but even class. How the images relate to social strata merits consideration, as it suggests the public role of art to serve social hierarchies of man's mastery over nature. Editor: It is about accessibility. This was, after all, conceived as educational material, literally a ‘print magazine for youth’. Curator: Ultimately, it invites consideration of the complex layers embedded within seemingly simple imagery. Editor: I agree. And it certainly makes me contemplate our relationship to representing nature through printed media today.