Jan Poortenaar bekijkt de afdruk van een etsplaat bij de pers c. 1930 - 1950

Curator: Right, let’s talk about this compelling image. It’s a photograph titled "Jan Poortenaar bekijkt de afdruk van een etsplaat bij de pers," placing the Dutch artist Jan Poortenaar center stage, examining one of his prints. It seems to have been captured sometime between 1930 and 1950. What's your immediate reaction? Editor: My eye is drawn to the labor and material of printing itself. It's an image of making. You see the weighty press, the etching plate—there's a real sense of the physical effort involved. I can almost smell the ink. Curator: I feel that. I get this deep sense of the artist's dedication. It’s like catching a glimpse of a secret ritual – this intense focus, him hovering over the print as if willing it to perfection. Editor: Absolutely. And the choice of photography as a medium to document etching – it underscores how even so-called traditional art forms are rooted in processes, technology, choices of material. It pulls back the curtain a bit, you know? No one gets to forget the means by which a print gets to be in our hands. Curator: Precisely. There’s such beautiful texture here. Look at the way the light catches on the metal of the press, compared to the matte surface of the paper. The composition guides our attention to the space between those textures—it makes you consider what connects Poortenaar to the thing he made, the machinery that makes the medium he loves, if that makes sense. The print is the vessel for this intersection! Editor: It does. This isn't just about artistry; it's about craft, labour and, really, an entire economy that puts that printed image in your hands. That's what this photograph documents: the artist *and* the conditions of possibility. It humanizes and materializes art. Curator: Agreed. What lingers with me most is the intimacy. I sense the intense connection between Poortenaar and his work through a simple photographic image! That kind of captured devotion and detail can still spark conversation almost 100 years later. Editor: For me, it is also the way the image points us to asking about the means and labor in print-making and art overall. Every final, finished art piece emerges through all kinds of labour we may overlook—it's good to pause and appreciate.