En fattig kone 1831

Curator: Welcome! Here we have "En fattig kone", or "A Poor Woman," a drawing and engraving by Lucie Marie Ingemann, dating from 1831. It seems almost like a study, with several faces sketched in the margins. What strikes you about it? Editor: It feels… raw, somehow. The visible lines, the sketches around the main figure – it doesn't have the polish I often associate with Romanticism. What do you see when you look at it? Curator: Well, I’m immediately drawn to the materiality. Ingemann's choice of engraving – a printmaking technique reliant on the labor-intensive process of incising lines into a metal plate – speaks volumes. The multiplication enabled by printmaking also connects to broader economic structures. Do you think the relative inexpensiveness of the medium played a part? Editor: Definitely, it broadens accessibility to a degree. Was Ingemann perhaps interested in social commentary? The woman *is* described as poor, and is working… Curator: Precisely. How does the production of the artwork—the print itself—relate to the depiction of labor within the image? We see her working with yarn, the print circulates for profit. Is Ingemann engaging in a dialogue about the labor of women? Editor: I hadn't thought of it that way. The image almost becomes a commodity itself. It definitely deepens the meaning seeing it like that. I'll keep this in mind going forward! Curator: It is the means of production that truly elevates our interpretation.