Vrouwenhoofd met hoed met struisveren, 1875, No. M.60 1875

Guido Gonin created this print of a woman in 1875, using lithography. The texture of the print is smooth, but the image depicts a variety of textiles: the crisp white of the collar, the soft bow at the neck, the dark furrows of hair. All of these are dominated by the hat, which is adorned with flowers and ostrich feathers. Lithography is a printing process using a flat stone or metal plate. The artist applies a greasy substance, in this case ink, to the surface, which is then treated so that only the greasy areas retain the ink. The printmaker then transfers the image to paper. It is an indirect process, so the final image is a result of the artist’s hand and technical knowledge. Fashion plates like this were used to advertise the latest styles and tastes. Consider how the labor of the lithographer, and the skilled workers who made the textiles and feathers, are all brought together in this single image. The print shows how an apparently simple image can have a surprising amount of human making embedded within it.