Kalenderblad oktober met vogel op een poot 1902

Curator: This print hanging here at the Rijksmuseum is a calendar page for October designed by Theo van Hoytema in 1902. He fashioned this particular piece using linocut, and it falls squarely within the Art Nouveau movement. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: It has a compelling moodiness, almost melancholic. The earth tones contribute, but it's the weight of the large bird staring directly at us, positioned above what appears to be a flock in flight – a stark juxtaposition that adds to the somber feel. Also, the texture from the linocut adds such tactile richness to the print, which speaks to Hoytema's craft. Curator: The weight you mention could very well be intended, I think. Birds often carry potent symbolic loads; messengers, freedom, even omens. A lone bird watching an entire flock is also quite suggestive. The Art Nouveau period embraced symbolism, often finding emotional depth within natural forms. Editor: Yes, and it's worth noting the production method as well. Linocut allows for the artist to directly engage with the material; to carve out the image and create something reproducible. In the face of industrialization, we are offered something so close to craft, highlighting skill, but also a connection to nature, as a visual antidote to modernity. Curator: Precisely. Look at the stylized rendering of the reeds, the flowing lines framing the scene, and the elegant typography of the calendar itself. These elements work in harmony to elevate this functional object – a calendar – into a piece of art. The visual language blends familiar natural imagery with a conscious desire for design harmony. Editor: And it's quite a calendar. Not just rows and numbers, but rather birds marking off the first week; we are asked to track our days in correspondence with the avian world. Thinking about how that original user engaged with this calendar helps bring back an almost lost social and labor history to the forefront. Curator: A beautiful point to consider; in our looking, let’s remember the daily looking, use, and maybe emotional attachment its original owner also experienced. Thank you. Editor: And thanks to you; its mood definitely captures the feeling of October quite beautifully.