De geschiedenis van Roodkapje 1850 - 1881

Curator: This engraving, entitled "De geschiedenis van Roodkapje," or "The Story of Little Red Riding Hood," was created sometime between 1850 and 1881 by Dirk Noothoven van Goor. It presents the narrative in a series of small, vignette-like images. Editor: Immediately striking is the stark contrast, achieved purely through line work. The density of the cross-hatching shapes creates darks, while areas are left blank for highlights. This makes it incredibly dynamic, despite its small size. Curator: The arrangement is particularly interesting. Each image depicts a key moment in the story, like reading a storyboard. It borrows elements from earlier folk art and even, arguably, from the aesthetics of Ukiyo-e prints, albeit adapted to a European narrative tradition. This makes a once spoken story immediately accessible as a continuous image to audiences even when they couldn't read the titles. Editor: Note how van Goor meticulously renders the details in each little frame, particularly in the figure's clothing. Each tiny figure has garments styled very precisely within the image's scale; it's fascinating that the overall effect produces something that seems both quaint and immediate. Curator: Right. And it is the cultural endurance that fascinates me. These aren’t mere illustrations; the print is a conduit to deeply rooted anxieties about the wild, and also the innocence that can blind us to real danger, an idea reinforced by how the wolf consistently looms large. Editor: The narrative also focuses attention on internal frame that exists when looking, encouraging contemplation, it does encourage this sustained form of reflection in an unassuming miniature, after all. It shows how simplicity is capable of containing powerful depth. Curator: Ultimately, that is it: that depth comes out of what we culturally imbue in images to do in the moment as much as for a long duration. This is where symbols begin to talk back. Editor: That tension, that space of looking, and between simplicity and visual depth make this deceptively minimal engraving still able to be engaging.