The Little Potato Peeler (La petite peleuse de pommes de terre) 

Editor: So, this etching is called "The Little Potato Peeler," or "La petite peleuse de pommes de terre" by Felicien Rops. I find the detail in the textures amazing— the fabric of her dress, the rough basket. It's a really intimate portrayal of labor, wouldn't you say? How can we read into the artistic intention through his choices in technique here? Curator: Exactly. Focus on that relationship between subject and process. Rops, using etching, which is a printmaking method that allowed for multiples of the image to be made. He’s depicting, in painstaking detail, a young woman engaged in a repetitive task: preparing potatoes. Doesn't it prompt the question of labor itself, how is this woman positioned as a subject to be looked at and who are the potential buyers and gazers of such work? Editor: That's a good point! I didn’t really consider that aspect. So, the "realism" here is almost a hyper-realism through the detailed etching process highlighting the everyday labour typically unseen. Almost an early commentary on commodity? Curator: Precisely! This work isn't simply depicting labor. By choosing to render this scene using the medium of printmaking and through reproducible labor, he implicates himself and potential buyers of the print in a system where labor becomes an artistic commodity for contemplation and a circulation within social systems. Editor: That connection hadn't clicked for me! Now I'm thinking about the performative aspect of labor both in the printmaking and within the picture. The way she sits almost looks like posing... Curator: Reflect on what's gained by connecting the woman's actions to the circulation and consumption enabled through printing techniques of the day. Does our relationship change towards the portrayal by acknowledging this system? Editor: Absolutely! It definitely challenges the initial simplistic reading I had. Seeing the connection to production gives a whole new layer. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure! Considering materiality provides depth to visual culture, doesn't it?