Tabel van 16 verschillende voetmaten c. 1852 - 1855

This is B. Winghofer's "Table of 16 Different Foot Sizes" a work on paper using what looks like graphite, though we can't know for sure since we don't have a date for the work or any information about the artist. Yet even with such little context, it is easy to imagine that this diagram of different feet speaks to notions of identity, measurement, and perhaps even standardization. Whose feet were being measured and why? And how might such measurement be related to power, or to the rise of scientific rationalism? The columns of numbers, neatly ruled lines and careful annotations, give the impression of a system, a means of classifying people. What stories do these foot sizes tell us about historical practices of assessment, and how might they reflect or challenge the prevailing social norms of the time? How do we, as viewers today, respond to the impersonal nature of this table, and what does it evoke in terms of human experience and individuality?