Omgewaaide boom bij de sociëteit, na de storm van 28 mei 1860 1860

Editor: So here we have Hendrik Wilhelmus Last’s “Omgewaaide boom bij de sociëteit, na de storm van 28 mei 1860,” an engraving from 1860 held at the Rijksmuseum. There’s such a melancholic stillness despite the aftermath of what must have been a violent storm. What strikes you most about it? Curator: The depiction of this fallen tree is really about labor, both human and natural. This work speaks volumes about how raw materials, specifically lumber, impacted 19th-century Dutch society and trade, even in leisure spaces. Look at the very precise, laborious act of engraving, translating the storm's brute force into this ordered print. It begs the question: What did the production and distribution of this image itself signify within that social context? Editor: I see what you mean about labor being a key element here, I had just thought about the sentimental aspect of ruined nature. How would such an engraving have been produced and disseminated in that era? Curator: Probably within a capitalist, print-driven system which fetishized nature, turning this ruined tree into a commodity, perhaps as memento for society members, or a reminder of nature's unpredictable nature. It makes us think about how this image was received, traded, and used. This isn't just a picturesque landscape, but an element in a larger exchange of value. Editor: So, it is more about the physical means by which we encounter this depiction, not just the nature it depicts? I guess I never considered the act of distribution itself as important to the work. Curator: Precisely. The fallen tree becomes less about nature's tragedy and more about resource extraction, labor divisions, and consumption practices that defined Dutch society at the time. Even art making can participate in the systems. Editor: Thanks, it gives me a totally different way of appreciating art. I'll be paying more attention to how pieces were made, and traded, and the kind of consumption networks that brought them into being.