Kippen, eenden en een haan 1877

Curator: Up next we have Edmond Lambrichs's 1877 etching entitled "Chickens, Ducks and a Rooster." The composition includes these barnyard fowl along the banks of a still body of water. Editor: My first thought is of the texture! The whole image is so incredibly tactile—you can almost feel the feathery softness of the ducks and the roughness of the rooster's plumage. What draws me is the use of light and shadow. Curator: Lambrichs' focus here ties into Realism and genre painting as prevalent movements during his time, so let's think about the socioeconomic underpinnings... What narratives are present in domestic scenes of labour and class? How do rural subjects become emblematic of broader sociopolitical questions in late 19th century Belgium? Editor: You are right, but more visually, each creature becomes an emblem within its own family grouping. I am quite drawn to the visual signifiers of water. Water represents so many different things in symbolic traditions; life, fertility, purity. What can be found there, below the surface? What unconscious yearnings rise in still reflection? Curator: The choice to feature farm animals—these signifiers of the domestic—as his central figures surely cannot be accidental! If we contextualize this work within the history of the country at the time, it invites an interesting analysis. How do Lambrichs’ class and privilege affect this gaze, and which meanings does that lens carry with it? Editor: Very insightful. However, it speaks to me personally of something other than class. I am struck, frankly, by how peacefully all of these different birds co-exist within a single frame, like aspects of a hidden, balanced nature. Curator: It’s certainly a beautiful piece and viewing it has led to new points of departure. Considering art through the lens of larger political and societal concepts remains urgent, as do the more psychological dimensions. Editor: Yes, reflecting upon what this little scene speaks to within its own symbolism makes me, personally, feel much more at ease, and has changed the way I view it as well.