Fotoreproductie van de tekening door Arthur Grottger uit de serie Litouwen, voorstellende een vrouw die met een verschrikte uitdrukking naast een slapende man staat c. 1870 - 1890

This is a photographic reproduction of a drawing by Arthur Grottger, part of his "Lithuania" series. As a reproduction, it involves a fascinating layering of techniques. First, there's the hand of the original artist, rendered in graphite or charcoal on paper. Then, the intervention of the photographer, capturing the drawing with a camera and transferring it onto a photographic print. This process flattens the textures of the original drawing, but also adds its own layer of materiality through the specific chemical processes of early photography. Consider the social context, too. Grottger's series documented the January Uprising, a Polish revolt against Russian rule in the 1860s. The original drawings, with their direct, expressive lines, were powerful statements of national identity. This reproduction, made by an anonymous hand, speaks to the dissemination of these political images through mass media, making the emotional impact more widely accessible and enduring. So, even in a seemingly straightforward reproduction, we find layers of artistic intention, technological intervention, and potent social meaning.