Twee vrouwen maken muziek 1831 - 1871

Jean-Pierre Moynet made this print, “Two Women Making Music,” using lithography, a printing process where the artist draws on a stone or metal plate and then uses oil and water to transfer the image onto paper. The soft, almost hazy quality of the print gives it a unique feel, different from, say, a sharp etching or engraving. The tonal range, from light grays to deep blacks, adds depth and volume to the scene. The lithographic process was revolutionary, allowing for mass production of images, and broader access to art and information. It was a distinctly modern medium, in contrast to the older intaglio processes of engraving or etching. The fact that Moynet chose lithography speaks volumes. It ties this intimate domestic scene, with its undertones of bourgeois refinement, to a wider world of industrial production and distribution. By thinking about process, material and social context, we see the artwork in a completely different light.