Een schraal middagmaal 1894 - 1959

Curator: Let's turn our attention to this intriguing print titled "Een schraal middagmaal", or "A Meagre Meal," created between 1894 and 1959 by the Monogrammist JGr. It's a genre-painting, almost like a comic strip sketch in print form. Editor: My initial feeling is... agitated laughter! The way those figures are drawn, it feels both historical and completely absurd. Is it supposed to be funny? Curator: The material execution gives a clue; this artwork functions almost like storyboard and sketchbook work. Note the numbered panels, each depicting a sequential scene. The artist is engaging with narrative and storytelling using printmaking, a means of production accessible to a wider audience than painting. Editor: Absolutely. The narrative element draws me in. It seems the central character, possibly a nobleman, is having some difficulty enjoying his meagre meal. There’s definitely an escalating level of physical comedy here – look, he’s ended up fighting over the food! Did this Monogrammist often delve into scenes of societal mishaps or are they sketching a certain figure and style to then perhaps replicate the figures elsewhere, later? Curator: Considering its place as sketchbook art makes me think more intently about where the artist was drawing influence and why it may have been important to reproduce such a genre through drawings or print. Editor: I do love that clash between what I imagine the noble classes should do and then these actions of fighting over what seems to be an unpleasant piece of food! It looks both like farce, but feels like the figures don't even know what a comedy or action is. Curator: Right. And to me it suggests how prints could disseminate not just information but also social commentary through visual storytelling and the very accessible style of prints at that time. Editor: That’s such a poignant perspective to take from something that seemed funny to me only a minute ago, maybe it’s not the meal that's meager, but the ability to see yourself and to respond rationally or kindly. Now it has become much more nuanced and complex. Curator: Indeed. "A Meagre Meal" provides not just a snapshot of comic life but offers glimpses into how social observations and the access to narrative visuals shape their meaning at different stages of our material engagement with this artform. Editor: Thank you, my friend, for such an amazing perspective! The sketchbook really has been sketched in all the ways that it might provide to us and this narrative does hold and display how far it’s traveled!