Olifant met fles 1878 - 1917

Theo van Hoytema created this color lithograph of an elephant with a bottle, in the Netherlands. The image, with its stylized composition and flat planes of color, belongs to the cultural moment of Japonisme in the late 19th century, when there was an intense European enthusiasm for Japanese art. The elephant here is depicted in the manner of a decorative print. It is placed within a border of peanuts, which perhaps ironically references the animal's traditional diet and its captivity in the zoo. It draws our attention to the way animals were seen in that era and the questionable ethics of keeping them confined for human entertainment. Note how the elephant holds a bottle with its trunk, as though it were a performing animal in a circus. The lack of a specific date makes it more difficult to analyze the image. The image likely satirizes the commercialization and commodification of nature. Analyzing van Hoytema’s letters and his other graphic works would give us a better understanding of the cultural debates he was engaged in and his vision for the public role of art.