Fotoreproductie van schilderij van mensen tijdens een bal door Adolf Menzel before 1868

Gustav Schauer's photogravure captures Adolf Menzel's painting of a bustling ball. The eye is immediately drawn to the dense, almost chaotic arrangement of figures. Schauer’s rendering focuses on the painting’s tonal range and the stark contrast between light and shadow. The composition is structured by a dynamic interplay of lines and forms. Figures are suggested through broad strokes and blurred contours, which destabilizes traditional notions of portraiture and representation. The artist challenges our expectations of spatial clarity. Schauer translates Menzel's loose brushwork into a play of photographic textures, and the semiotic system of the image is further complicated. What was once a painted scene is now mediated through the lens of photography, creating a layered representation. Ultimately, this reproduction invites us to reflect on the nature of art itself. It is a visual record and an interpretation, raising questions about originality, reproduction, and the ever-evolving dialogue between different artistic mediums.