Reuk 1600 - 1676

Editor: This engraving, “Reuk,” created sometime between 1600 and 1676 by an anonymous artist, feels very staged to me. It’s a depiction of smell, after all! What's your interpretation? Curator: I see the appeal in this depiction and I wonder, first of all, what kind of labor was required to create and then distribute it? Consider the engraver’s skill in translating the visual world into a series of precise lines, a process demanding intensive training. Editor: That's true. It does seem like it took a very long time to make. The amount of detail is fascinating! Curator: And beyond the manual skill involved, what about the social context that allowed such an image to be produced and consumed? These images would've likely circulated among a particular social class, indicative of specific tastes and desires tied to status and maybe a desire for sensory stimulation beyond the everyday. The very notion of capturing "smell" visually transforms an ephemeral experience into a commodity. The landscape, too, has been commodified. Editor: It’s interesting that you focus on the materials and labor. Curator: Don't forget how the engraving also intersects with the social hierarchies of the time. A figure amidst burgeoning global trade, maybe? Perhaps, she, like these images, is implicated in networks of resource extraction. I'd also be curious about the paper, its origins and what fibers are involved. Editor: I didn't consider it in terms of the labor involved to make both the physical item, but also the image, too. Curator: Exactly! These types of art challenge boundaries between high art and craft by forcing the viewer to examining labor, materiality, and consumption in general.