Figuren op de hoek van de kade van La Goulette 1875

Curator: This etching by Vicomte Arthur-Jean Le Bailly d'Inghuem, created around 1875, is titled "Figuren op de hoek van de kade van La Goulette," or "Figures on the Corner of the Quay of La Goulette." What are your initial thoughts on this piece? Editor: It's strangely…quiet. Despite the figures, the boats, the implied hustle of a quay, there’s this hushed, almost melancholy air about it. Is it the limited palette? Curator: Indeed, the monochrome etching technique lends a certain reserve. As a print, its existence also speaks to reproducibility and wider circulation—images and ideas spreading far beyond one context. Editor: You can definitely sense its age in those marks. There is something about seeing the artist's hand at work in the little strokes there and the imperfections, but then seeing that multiplied for wider distribution adds an interesting paradox. Were prints meant to disseminate new visual ideas or create the impression you could own your little version of an original, in miniature? Curator: Certainly, prints served both purposes. Etchings allowed for relatively quick reproduction while still retaining a sense of artistic authorship—an attempt at democratizing art ownership while simultaneously reaffirming hierarchies of value. They became ways of sharing imagery, especially landscapes of newly accessible places. The town, La Goulette, was a part of Tunisia with colonial ties to France. So we are also seeing this moment of the French elite starting to have access to what would have been distant parts of the world for them. Editor: And here we are, viewing the scene through that lens as well! This print acts almost as a portal to not only another place, but another era’s social perspective and power dynamic. This artwork and others like it could become an exercise in looking, learning, and questioning what other perspectives were overlooked at the time. The quiet I spoke of could actually be exclusion and that puts a whole new spin on it! Curator: Absolutely. It makes me contemplate what d'Inghuem found evocative. Editor: A powerful glimpse into then and now, prompting endless reflections.