Air 1743 - 1753

Curator: The first thing I see in this piece is its materiality. It’s a print, an image reproduced mechanically. What does that say about its value, its accessibility, compared to, say, an oil painting? Editor: This is "Air" by Jean Daullé, made sometime between 1743 and 1753. It's currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It looks like a drawing of cherubs playing with doves. There's something delicate and lighthearted about it. What do you see in this work? Curator: The print medium democratizes art. It allows wider consumption, transforms art into a commodity. We must also consider what paper production itself tells us. Toned paper, the inks used – what does it reveal about the era’s technology, its global trade routes for these resources? Editor: So, you're saying the value isn’t necessarily in the artistry, but in the access the medium provides and the resources that make it possible? Curator: Precisely. And think about the subject: cherubs. How were children treated and valued? Where were children positioned in 18th century labour structures? Consider the patron too. This print is "Dédié a Son Excellence" which immediately raises the questions: How does patronage and wealth shape the creation and dissemination of this artwork? Whose stories are being told and whose are not? Editor: It’s fascinating to think about this lighthearted image carrying so much social and economic information. I hadn't considered it in terms of the material production and labour involved. Curator: The making of art, from material extraction to distribution, involves complex processes and labor. Studying these processes exposes art's relationship with economic, and political, structures. Editor: I'll definitely look at art differently now, thinking more about its means of production.