China prentbriefkaart 'Einde der Eeuw' c. 1900 - 1918

Curator: Allow me to introduce this turn-of-the-century Dutch postcard, "China prentbriefkaart 'Einde der Eeuw,'" dating from around 1900 to 1918. Editor: My first impression? Eerily prophetic, and that jaundice yellow is wonderfully unsettling against the monochrome drawing. Curator: The artist uses a symbolic approach, with a caricature that demands unpacking. The grotesque figure draped in white—Civilization, as the caption suggests—clutches instruments of war. Editor: And they’re labeled, aren’t they? "Greusit," "Krupp," "Mauser" – brand names, the arms dealers themselves rendered as almost innocuous tags. Look at Civilization adorned with death, draped by these implements of death! The drawing method further emphasizes the poster medium, the ink economical but harsh. Curator: Precisely! And notice how Death, the skeletal figure standing beside Civilization, isn’t some looming, imposing specter, but an attendant, a livereiknecht—a lackey in livery. His proximity signals not just mortality but inevitability. Editor: So, Civilization isn’t armed against Death; Civilization IS weaponized by the war machine and its material production? Curator: Yes, that seems a valid reading of the symbolism. The very tools meant to secure existence, labeled with the brand names of their producers, become emblems of civilization’s doom, an idea expressed graphically by juxtaposing text with image. Note the use of the jagged, irregular lines giving that nightmarish quality. Editor: There’s an argument to be made, looking at the process here, about the very role these factories played – these purveyors of arms are propping up not only a nation, but, visually speaking here, it’s supporting Western “civilization”. Curator: It provokes unsettling questions, indeed. This "End of the Century" visualizes not only a fear of destruction but hints at a society actively complicit in its own demise through these industries of death. Editor: Definitely powerful material here! This postcard renders so clearly, from a social perspective, a civilization dependent on these material processes in turn ending it. Curator: Yes, a somber note sounded long before the first World War’s full horror unfolded. Its message about production, arms, and civilization rings with uncomfortable relevance even today.