Liggende leeuw 1729

Editor: Here we have Bernard Picart's "Liggende leeuw," or "Reclining Lion," made in 1729. It's an ink drawing, almost an engraving, and it has such a relaxed, almost domestic feel to it, despite being a lion. What strikes you about it? Curator: What interests me is the accessibility of the image itself. Consider the production. It is made of humble materials like ink and paper and, through the printmaking process, this image would have been made available to a wide audience. How does the choice of materials democratize representation? Editor: Democratize representation? That’s interesting… Curator: Yes. It isn’t some oil painting, reserved for the wealthy elite. Engravings like these were much more widely distributed. We might think about the artist's intention. Was Picart trying to make the Lion, a symbol of power, more accessible to the masses by utilizing this specific material practice? Editor: That's a point I hadn't considered. So, the conscious selection of printmaking suggests a kind of subversion, perhaps even criticism, of hierarchical structures within society, no? The king of beasts made accessible to the commoner. Curator: Precisely! Think of it as challenging established notions of artistic value and questioning who gets to access certain imagery. The lion, rendered in ink, loses some of its regal aura. Does the material itself transform the cultural meaning of the lion? Editor: I see, the seemingly simple medium of ink facilitates access and prompts us to interrogate power dynamics… Something I will surely take into account. Curator: Exactly. Materiality and method intersect, producing meaning beyond mere representation.