Fotoreproductie van acht sculpturen en twee schilderijen c. 1872 - 1882

This photogravure of sculptures and paintings was created by Johannes Jaeger. We see the image as part of a page in a book. The composition is structured around a grid, with a series of small, rectangular images neatly arranged. Each rectangle contains a reproduction of either a sculpture or a painting. The contrast in tone is stark, with light subjects set against dark backgrounds, and the images on the right have suffered some degradation. Jaeger's approach to capturing these artworks transforms them into repeatable units. This serialization raises questions about the nature of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, as Walter Benjamin famously explored. The grid format suggests a systematized way of seeing, a cataloguing of artistic forms that reduces each work to its essential visual components. The piece challenges our understanding of uniqueness, prompting a reconsideration of how meaning is constructed and disseminated through art.