Verschillende ambachten, en bedrijven 1806 - 1830

Curator: Looking at Johan Noman's "Verschillende ambachten, en bedrijven," which translates to "Different crafts, and businesses," created sometime between 1806 and 1830, one is immediately struck by its systematic cataloging of daily labor. Editor: Oh, it feels like flipping through a faded storybook! A somewhat absurd one, with these tiny, earnest figures going about their business in what seems like a miniature Dutch town. Almost a proto-comic strip. Curator: Exactly! This print offers glimpses into the socio-economic fabric of early 19th-century Dutch society. Each panel presents a different trade or profession, highlighting the diversity of labor. It prompts us to think about class, and the value ascribed to manual work. How those values might echo to the present day, too. Editor: You know, each vignette is a tiny world of its own. The engraver, for instance; so self-absorbed, bent over their desk—seems oddly like my desk at times! It gives the artwork a sort of intimacy and a gently satirical air at once. I can relate to them, laboring away to produce. Curator: That connection to lived experience is key. We must also acknowledge that depictions like these were not always neutral records. Consider how power dynamics are reflected or omitted. Who is represented, how, and why? Editor: Hmm. Something in the stark simplicity is striking. You are also wondering about the anonymous labor of these images: both in what is shown and who it shows. They become these poignant little poems about daily life in a time before mass production. Curator: Precisely, it provokes so many questions. Editor: Right. This little Dutch panorama of human industry also is a memento mori and compels to me think, too, about all these crafts disappearing today. Thank you for making the context come alive.