Fall of the Tritt near the Iron Foundries at Oberhasli 1776

Curator: Oh, my. It feels like a dream, almost staged. The light! Editor: It's Jean François Janinet’s "Fall of the Tritt near the Iron Foundries at Oberhasli." Look closely at how the human endeavor, the industrial labor near the falls, is framed. Curator: Framed, yes, but also dwarfed. The rainbow at the base of the falls seems to mock the little wooden aqueducts and the figures walking on them. Editor: Exactly. The printmaking process itself highlights this tension. Think of the labor needed to create the plate, the control, versus the chaotic force of the water. Curator: Maybe it’s about humanity finding its place, or maybe losing it. That rainbow... promise or illusion? Editor: Perhaps it’s a question of how we consume nature’s resources and represent that act. Curator: Yes, and how nature continues regardless. I like that it remains a question. Editor: Indeed. It asks us to consider the cost, artistic or industrial, doesn’t it?