Kinderen op boerenerf 1826 - 1886

Dirk Jurriaan Sluyter made this print, "Kinderen op boerenerf", using etching and possibly other techniques. Prints like this, made on paper, were usually produced in multiples, and this one likely circulated widely among middle-class households. Notice the etcher’s marks that define the form of the children, the doorway, and the yard. The composition shows a quiet moment, but consider how much labor is implied. The children’s clothing, the basket to the left, the wood of the door – all these are products of human work. The very existence of the print also depended on a complex division of labor, from the making of the paper and ink to the work of the etcher who created the image. In its own way, the print is a kind of accounting of the material world and the processes behind it. Paying attention to the making, and the social context, brings us closer to the full meaning of this simple scene, and challenges the idea that fine art is somehow separate from everyday life.