Parijsche masquerades 1806 - 1830

Editor: So, this is "Parijsche Masquerades" by Johan Noman, and it's an engraving that the museum dates somewhere between 1806 and 1830. It's… well, it's a bit bizarre, isn't it? Like a sheet of very strange stickers. All these costumed figures… almost like characters from a dream. What jumps out at you when you look at it? Curator: "Characters from a dream"...I love that! That really nails the discombobulating, slightly unsettling vibe, doesn't it? I mean, what's *not* to love? You've got figures on stilts wielding swords, a man-sized rooster, a donkey doing what appears to be the tango… Each one feels like a little riddle. Editor: Exactly! A riddle! Were these designs for a play, maybe? Curator: Perhaps! Given the title, one imagines some grand Parisian masquerade balls or festivities... but it may well be the product of Noman’s playful imagination and witty observations. You see this was done in the Romantic period, that really reveled in fantasy and the slightly grotesque. Notice how the figures are enclosed in their little boxes? Like specimens pinned for observation. Editor: That's a little creepy! But the line work is so delicate...it makes them less scary, somehow. Curator: Precisely. And what do we make of the imprint: "J. Noman, Boekdrukker te Z. Bommel, 1814?” Likely where these witty illustrations were printed. Who knows what people thought when they saw them in Bommel way back when... Maybe a good laugh, a thoughtful consideration, or maybe something to spark their imagination? What do *you* take away from this piece? Editor: I guess, more than anything, it shows how artists throughout time have played with pushing boundaries, testing the limits of what is considered funny or normal. I'll definitely think about it when I am looking through sketchbooks, to be less restrained in my imagination. Curator: Nicely said! Me, too! And it reminds me that humour in art isn't always a straightforward thing - it's often layered with strangeness, and maybe a touch of unease. That's where it becomes really interesting, I think.