"The diligence is gone!!!" from the Little Miseries of Human Life 1843

Curator: Look at this! A print from 1843 by J. J. Grandville. It's titled "The diligence is gone!!!" from the series "Little Miseries of Human Life," and it uses etching techniques to depict a rather…harried scene. Editor: Harried is an understatement. He looks positively frantic! You can almost feel the desperation emanating from his sweaty little form as he chases after what I assume is the departing stagecoach, hat flailing in his grasp, leaving that woman in his wake. Oh the drama of it all! Curator: The "Little Miseries" series was, well, dedicated to such melodramas. Grandville focused on the everyday struggles, anxieties, and foibles of bourgeois life in 19th-century Paris. And remember, printmaking, especially etching, democratized art. It made images like this accessible to a wider public, allowing these anxieties to resonate far beyond a wealthy elite. Editor: Democratized anxiety, love it! It also has a touch of the absurd—exaggerated features, the desperate scramble, it reminds me of a slightly darker cartoon. But I do wonder, why etchings specifically for this subject matter? It must take so much labor to convey something so seemingly mundane. Curator: That's the genius, I think. Etching, with its detailed lines and tonal gradations, was perfect for capturing the nuances of everyday life. Consider the cost, the labor. There's irony there. The very act of producing these prints, making visible these small but universal troubles, became part of the commentary. It asks us to consider the value of this representation, of our labor and toil. Editor: You're right! There’s a quiet commentary in the method itself. The care etched into what seems like a throwaway moment—it flips the mundanity on its head, suddenly precious, like holding a memory up to the light. I guess it transforms a shared sense of human failing into something…beautifully tangible. Curator: Exactly! We see the collision of the everyday and the monumental, both technically and conceptually. I'm reminded of all the unappreciated processes it takes to do almost anything well! Editor: Agreed, after taking the time to linger, what was just an embarrassing drawing transforms into a deep and complex observation on the very nature of existing. I feel…seen, honestly.