Karikatuur van Chris Lebeau en Frits Grabijn op de fiets 1913

This is a woodcut caricature of Chris Lebeau and Frits Grabijn on a bicycle, made by Reijer Stolk. The print likely dates from the early 20th century in the Netherlands. The bold, graphic style reflects the influence of early modernist printmaking. But more specifically, it speaks to a tradition of artist-on-artist caricature. Here, we see an irreverent glimpse into the social world of artists themselves. Prints were democratic objects. Inexpensive and reproducible, prints reached a wider audience than painting. Caricatures, in particular, had the potential to puncture the self-seriousness of the art world. Through these caricatures, artists commented on the social status of their peers, critiquing the very institutions they inhabited. To fully understand this image, one might delve into the biographies of the artists depicted, search for other caricatures of the time, and analyze the publications in which this print may have appeared. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.