Ontwerp voor een penning met zaaiende man 1876 - 1947

Curator: This work, titled "Ontwerp voor een penning met zaaiende man," or "Design for a medal with a sowing man" in English, is attributed to Lambertus Zijl, dating from between 1876 and 1947. It is a ceramic relief sculpture. What's your initial impression? Editor: Well, the material really stands out. It's rough, almost primitive, with visible imperfections. The white ceramic gives it a stark, almost ghostly quality. It feels very raw and honest in its materiality. Curator: It’s interesting you say that. Zijl worked extensively in ceramic, often exploring the relationship between art, craft, and industry. The fact that it's a design *for* a medal shifts the focus from finished product to the labor inherent in design. The figure, seemingly caught mid-action, brings into focus the physical exertion involved in sowing, a task often romanticized but rarely shown with such bodily awareness. Editor: Absolutely. And it’s meant to be reproduced, of course. That tension between art and industry, the hand-made versus the mass-produced, it’s right there in the material and the subject matter. I wonder how Zijl’s context influenced his choice to depict labor in this way, to elevate it in ceramic when he had many other choices available. Curator: The Netherlands during that time saw considerable industrial and agricultural change, as did most of Europe, of course. Art played an increasing role in nation building, even serving purposes related to public messaging and education, including celebrating laborers in an effort to encourage societal morale. Editor: Which museums or cultural institutions would exhibit such a work, and why? Was there a certain ideology present in that choice? Curator: Likely museums with an interest in social history or design collections with pedagogical missions, perhaps institutions founded during periods of nation-building. It's also compelling when viewed through the lens of labor politics, of course. Editor: It's so much more than just a simple scene. It asks complex questions. Curator: Yes, seeing beyond the final product towards design as a site of human labor changes everything. Editor: Exactly! Makes me think a lot differently about these designs.