Is That You? Well, I Say...Eh, Listen? 18th-19th century

Editor: This intriguing print is titled "Is That You? Well, I Say...Eh, Listen?" by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. The figures have such expressive faces. What recurring symbols or messages do you find in Goya's work here? Curator: Note the canes, symbols of age and perhaps of societal structure, yet held loosely, almost mockingly. Consider the exaggerated features, echoing the grotesque masks worn in carnivals. What do these faces evoke for you? Editor: A sense of discomfort, of something hidden. Curator: Precisely. Goya uses caricature to unmask the hypocrisy of his time. The prints served as a visual vocabulary for societal anxieties. He captured collective memory. Editor: So, it's not just about individual portraits but about a shared cultural critique? That’s really insightful. Curator: Indeed. Art becomes a mirror reflecting back the shadows of the human condition.