Spreekwoorden 1850 - 1881

Editor: Here we have "Spreekwoorden", or "Proverbs," an engraving and print made sometime between 1850 and 1881, by Dirk Noothoven van Goor. The page is split into different vignettes, each illustrating a different proverb. What I find striking is the way everyday life is presented, almost like a comic strip teaching morals. What’s your interpretation of this piece? Curator: It's interesting to see these proverbs presented as consumer goods, printed and sold as a magazine insert. We should consider who was consuming these images and what kind of labour went into producing these magazines, including engraving and printing technology of the time. Does seeing them mass-produced in this way, challenge traditional notions about what is ‘high art’? Editor: Definitely, it makes you think about the role of art in popular culture, even back then. How do you see the material impacting the understanding of Dutch Golden Age thematics? Curator: This work appropriates the themes of the Dutch Golden Age, where genre painting was popular, for mass consumption through print. These weren’t unique paintings hanging in wealthy homes, they were part of a print magazine. What impact might that context have on their audience? Were these images supposed to improve or discipline children? Editor: That's a good point! It makes you wonder about the power of accessible images. Curator: Precisely! And, crucially, about the labor, methods and economies of its creation. Instead of romanticising the images as uniquely “artistic” objects, perhaps the processes of the time shape their meaning. Editor: That definitely changes how I see the work and helps me consider it within a broader social and economic context. Curator: Exactly, the art exists not just in the image, but in the networks of production and consumption in which it exists.