Uit het kinderleven 1881

Editor: This is a watercolor print called "Uit het kinderleven" by De Ruyter & Meijer, dating to 1881. The series of vignettes has a nostalgic feel, almost like a children’s book. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The overriding impression is of an idealized vision of childhood. Think about the recurring visual motifs: children helping each other, engaging with animals, enacting roles, prayers before bed... It’s a cultural memory being constructed, a sort of ‘golden age’ of innocence and industry that maybe never really existed. Do you see a particular emblem repeated here? Editor: I notice children acting like adults in various scenes. Is this to teach them proper conduct or...? Curator: Yes, consider the layers of instruction and aspiration conveyed here. Not only in playing soldier or doing farm work, but think about the domestic arrangements too. The clothes suggest that these are stories depicting children across socio-economic positions, with all learning and observing. It reflects not just childhood play, but aspiration towards different types of adulthood. This cultural encoding uses familiarity, memory and repetition to show archetypes within societal positions. It is striking for our contemporary view of childhood freedoms. What do you think? Editor: I hadn’t considered the element of social mobility and instruction through play. It's like each panel offers a lesson in becoming. Thank you for expanding how I look at symbols within the work! Curator: Indeed. By seeing childhood as formative to those types, we get insight into the memory or reflection that was of value to that particular historical society.