Prokurator Benjamin Georg Bang 1829 - 1899

Curator: Let’s discuss this compelling print, “Prokurator Benjamin Georg Bang," dating from 1829 to 1899, currently held in the Statens Museum for Kunst. The artist is H.P. Hansen, and it's rendered as an engraving. Editor: Immediately striking! There's a distinct materiality at play here. I'm drawn to the labor invested in creating this detailed print. The cross-hatching creates a palpable texture that almost feels tactile. Curator: Yes, the medium profoundly shapes our encounter with Bang's representation. As a high-ranking official, one could consider his figure rendered through the social and political context that influenced genre paintings during that period. It presents ideas regarding status. Editor: Absolutely. I’m especially interested in how Hansen's engraving uses the conventions of printmaking – a decidedly accessible medium – to depict this 'Prokurator'. It brings questions of production and consumption to the foreground, and to me, raises a question about the target audience for this image. Who would possess this portrait, and why? Curator: The engraving's accessibility points to broader social dialogues occurring through art. Consider the subtle commentary Hansen might be offering on power, through Bang’s character. Editor: Notice the minute details. The texture on his coat, the small object or pen in his hands—each seems meticulously considered to construct Bang’s image. It's this conscious and careful handcrafting that I appreciate most. How are ideas about labour embedded in the work? Curator: Those crafted details speak volumes about social performance at the time. Hansen places Bang at eye-level but on a clear patch, making his power—his occupation—tangible through realism’s lens, while challenging norms of artistic creation by making it a ‘popular print’. Editor: Ultimately, this detailed print provides tangible evidence of material culture and the economic conditions that permitted—and shaped—its creation. I appreciate how this piece helps to reveal those complex material-social relationships that shaped how he moved. Curator: Precisely. Engaging with “Prokurator Benjamin Georg Bang” compels us to consider art's crucial function in reflecting—and shaping—power structures of its era, which ripple through society and still touch upon us today.