Vechtende mannen met speren en pijl-en-boog 1873

George Hendrik Breitner created this pencil drawing, entitled Vechtende mannen met speren en pijl-en-boog, which translates to Fighting Men with Spears and Bows and Arrows. Breitner was a Dutch painter, photographer and printmaker, who depicted street scenes, portraits, landscapes and military scenes. Here we see a group of men in combat. Produced at a time of colonial expansion, it prompts the question of what role art plays in shaping cultural perceptions of otherness. The drawing resonates with the common 19th-century theme of the "noble savage" and the representation of indigenous people as fierce warriors. We can ask if it exoticizes or romanticizes warfare in other cultures and how the artist’s cultural background shaped his interpretation. By examining historical archives, colonial-era publications, and accounts from the period, we can get a deeper understanding of the politics of imagery and understand the cultural biases inherent in the representation of non-Western people.