Nieuwjaarsprent voor 1873 1873

Editor: This is a New Year's print for 1873 by Johan Michaël Schmidt Crans, an engraving on paper. I'm immediately drawn to the contrast between the dark study and the brightly illuminated figure. It almost feels like a stage production. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: Immediately, I’m thinking about the conditions of its production and consumption. This isn’t high art, exhibited in a gallery, but rather a print circulated widely, likely purchased and displayed in a home. What does it tell us about the printing process of the time and the paper used? Notice the texture and lines produced by the engraving, suggesting a skilled artisan replicating images for mass consumption. Does that not hint at the values and consumption patterns of the emerging middle class who would acquire such a print? Editor: So, you’re thinking about this more as a commodity and insight into a specific moment in the production of popular imagery? How does that viewpoint inform the narrative within the image itself? Curator: Precisely! The content then becomes part of the broader materiality. What’s the scene being depicted and for whom? The "Spectator's Study" suggests an educated, literate audience familiar with the conventions of theater, hinted at in the line under the title: “Here will be performed.” Is this intended as pure entertainment or as social commentary? What kind of labor produced this spectacle, from the artist to the printer to the distributor? Who are they trying to reach and what is the purpose of all that material labor? Editor: I see what you mean! Thinking about it as an artifact tied to the labor involved really broadens its significance beyond just a picture. Curator: Exactly, looking at this work illuminates production and reception within specific social and economic frameworks. Art is very much interwoven with the tangible realities surrounding its creation.