Dit fraaije Prenttafereel stelt, Kind'ren, u voor oogen, / Wat men verrigten kan door 't edel kunstvermogen (...) c. 1856 - 1858

Curator: Here we have a lithograph dating back to the late 1850s by P.C.L. van Staden Czn., with a rather lengthy title that begins, "Dit fraaije Prenttafereel stelt, Kind'ren, u voor oogen..." or, "This fine print scene shows, Children, before your eyes..." Editor: It has a dreamlike, whimsical quality. It feels like looking into the past through a slightly cracked, rose-tinted lens, each image frozen in its little frame. The coloring is faded yet somehow alive, creating a strangely evocative narrative. Curator: Exactly! Each of these framed vignettes contains scenes that are sequential— it functions as a narrative artwork of developing transport options. I find the framing here is less about constraint, and more about giving context and clarity. Each of these moments is special in itself. Editor: The progression from horse-drawn carriages to these early locomotives is fascinating. The steam train feels clunky, almost comical, but also charged with promise, or a hidden threat. Notice the emphasis on human scale in relation to these early mechanical beasts. Each human surmounting its modern contrivance. Curator: And it’s the scale that brings that home! Each of these panels contains not only modes of transit in the 19th Century, but a larger-than-life tale of human progress in all of its potential. I like how it blends cityscapes with travel! Editor: Indeed. Each scene offers its own interpretation. To consider our history in the small-scale fashion is to think of the potential in progress. How each panel tells a familiar tale and represents our continuous hope. Curator: It is something of a story in frames. This "fine print scene," as van Staden so wonderfully calls it, manages to compress within it not only our cultural memory, but its hopes for the future, frozen as one idea! Editor: That combination makes me imagine we are still learning. Always evolving, we could still step into a new frame on life’s storyboard any minute. The story of how our transit looks and is understood, and our evolution overall, remains wonderfully, exhilaratingly unwritten!