Twee prehistorische geslepen vuurstenen, gevonden in het stroomgebied van de Seine 1869

Editor: We're looking at "Two Prehistoric Polished Flints, Found in the Seine Basin," dated 1869. It's a lithograph print, essentially a photograph of these ancient tools. The texture of the flint is so tactile, even in this printed format. What strikes you about it? Curator: For me, the fascination lies in its focus on the tools themselves. Think about the labor involved in both creating the flint tools originally and then, centuries later, documenting them so meticulously through photography and lithography. This piece, in its own way, elevates the "craft" of toolmaking to the level of high art. How does the image challenge our ideas about progress and human ingenuity? Editor: It makes me think about how our relationship to materials has changed. Now, materials are cheap and disposable. Back then, the value was tied to the effort in finding and working with them. The "making of" the artwork is as important as the prehistoric “making of” the artifacts. Curator: Exactly! And it's important to consider who had access to these skills and resources, both in prehistory and in 19th-century Paris. Was flint knapping egalitarian? Was the ability to document and display these objects? Where did this flint originate, and how did it get to the Seine Basin? It points to early forms of trade and perhaps conflict, too. This piece encourages us to unpack the social and economic conditions embedded within these seemingly simple tools and within their modern photographic reproduction. Editor: So, by focusing on the materials and methods of both the flints and the image itself, we start to see it not just as art but as a record of human ingenuity across time. Curator: Precisely. It highlights labor, materiality, and consumption. What appears simple on the surface becomes a window into the complexities of prehistoric society and the art-making process in the 19th century. We go beyond form to explore creation and labor. Editor: I never thought about these prehistoric tools in terms of artistic creation, but it really shows how much our ideas about art and craft are socially constructed. Thank you.