Kalenderblad voor november 1912 met meeuwen en konijnen 1911

Curator: This is a page for November 1912, plucked from a calendar designed by Theo van Hoytema a year prior. You see those graceful gulls sweeping across the top panel, and the cozy rabbit burrow nestled below? It’s all rendered in drawing and print. What grabs you first about this piece? Editor: Well, beyond the immediate appeal of adorable bunnies, there's a certain subdued melancholy to it. November, right? It’s that in-between time, caught between the abundance of autumn and the starkness of winter. There's a quiet tension here, the freedom of the gulls versus the grounded existence of the rabbits. Curator: Absolutely. Hoytema had a deep connection to nature. It’s like he's whispering secrets about the rhythm of the seasons. You sense that affection even in the lettering, doesn't that say a lot about his sensibility? And he wasn’t just depicting it; he was advocating for it. Hoytema was involved in movements to protect birds, wasn't he? Editor: Precisely! And you see how this calendar page subtly weaves in this message, normalizing the representation of animal life alongside daily life? Think about how the construction of our modern calendars often omits consideration for any form of non-human life or awareness of seasonal change. And while his style seems reminiscent of Japanese ukiyo-e prints, let's not forget the Western gaze always carries with it a power dynamic that often romanticizes the 'Orient'. Curator: True. It makes you wonder about what 'November 1912' even meant for someone living then. To think this would have been adorning someone's kitchen... Did it serve as a moment to pause amidst a very specific experience of the past? Like seeing an echo of a lost connection to nature through Hoytema’s lens. It gives me a longing for simpler times. Editor: Maybe “simpler” isn’t quite right. It reminds me more of the deeply embedded cyclical view of existence that becomes obscured in the march of capitalist progress. Hoytema brings to the surface what we sacrifice when we lose touch with nature’s cycles, and what consequences this detachment yields for society, the ecosystem, and other living species. Curator: Hmmm… Food for thought. Now I’m wondering what sort of calendar page we'd design to capture November today... Editor: That's a question worth pondering indeed. Let's make a note of it.