Sterrenbeeld ram 1880 - 1946

Curator: Looking at "Sterrenbeeld ram," a print by Henri van der Stok, likely created between 1880 and 1946. It's a woodcut piece, currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Wow, it's so striking! The contrast is intense, the white ram almost levitating against that deep, speckled sky. There’s something ancient and futuristic about it at the same time. Like a vision from a lost sci-fi civilization. Curator: Indeed. It’s interesting how van der Stok combines zodiac symbolism with what seems to be an emerging modernist aesthetic in landscape. There’s a distinct emphasis on form and linear patterns here. Given the period, we might situate it in relation to interwar explorations of identity through astrology, particularly its appeal amidst widespread anxieties and transformations. Editor: You’re so right, it does feel like a landscape ripped from someone’s psyche, very internal and… purposeful. All these angles and sharp turns, zig-zags… What's your reading of its impact from a gendered perspective? Curator: Astrology itself has long been racialized and gendered. The association of Aries with masculine traits like assertiveness and aggression – as well as the symbolic reference to Mars in the bottom corner – are embedded within broader systems of patriarchal social relations that celebrate some identities and oppress others. How are those connections manifest, visually, do you think? Editor: Well, there’s a rigidity, isn’t there? All the harsh angles feel overtly assertive. Almost challenging the softness we might expect in an idyllic field under a starry sky. The ram’s profile, while seemingly calm, is outlined with this incredible force... like raw will staring back. Curator: Absolutely. Consider also how landscape, traditionally rendered, has often been a terrain onto which male dominance and colonial exploits were mapped. This stylized, almost brutal landscape perhaps speaks to an undercurrent of such power dynamics even when seemingly depicting a benign astrological figure. Editor: Thinking of it in those terms completely alters its impact for me. Initially I simply saw a stark contrast in beauty; the geometric and natural blending into dream. Now I wonder whose dream? Whose story gets carved into that landscape? Curator: Precisely. And it is those very questions – ones that challenge us to consider the intersection of identity, representation, and historical context – that makes analyzing art so rewarding and necessary. Editor: It definitely offers new dimensions to understanding "Sterrenbeeld ram"—layers that take you beyond simple aesthetics and make you think… and feel… differently. It feels almost revolutionary for its time.