Schuitbekreiger in de regen 1878 - 1908

Art Historian: Editor: Okay, next up we have "Schuitbekreiger in de regen" – or Boat-billed Heron in the Rain – by Theo van Hoytema, made sometime between 1878 and 1908. It's an etching and drawing in ink. The heron looks so dejected, standing in the downpour. What strikes me is the texture created by the lines making up the rain and feathers. What do you see in this piece? Art Historian: What immediately grabs my attention is how the artist merges high art and what we might dismiss as mere craft. Think about the labor involved in creating an etching, the repetitive act of layering ink, and the physical process of building up the image, scratch by scratch. Editor: So you're focusing on the making of it? Art Historian: Absolutely. The print, which likely comes from multiple plates and careful applications of ink, points towards the increasing industrialization of artmaking processes during the late 19th century. Was Hoytema embracing mass production, or critiquing it? Editor: That’s an interesting way to think about it. So the choice of etching – the method – connects it to broader changes in society? Art Historian: Precisely. Also, consider how the market would have received an image like this. Was it intended for mass consumption or a select art-buying public? Who could afford it, and how did its materiality affect its perceived value? The heron, seemingly weighed down by the rain, invites a closer consideration of artistic creation under the weight of these production concerns. What about you? Has your perspective shifted? Editor: Definitely. I was so caught up in the bird’s melancholy, I completely missed the story told by the way it was made and distributed. Thanks for opening my eyes! Art Historian: It’s a pleasure. Always good to think about how production and labor are present, even in seemingly simple images.