Ontwerp voor illustratie voor In Holland staat een huis: silhouet van een hondje 1884 - 1917

Nelly Bodenheim made this design for an illustration with paper and ink. It's a silhouette of a dog for the book "In Holland staat een huis" and the year is around 1917-1918. Bodenheim was part of a generation of Dutch artists who embraced modernism while remaining deeply rooted in national traditions. You see this in the simple, graphic style. Silhouettes were also a popular technique, particularly in children's books, reflecting a broader interest in folk art and craft. The Rijksmuseum, as a national institution, plays a role in shaping the narrative of Dutch art history, choosing which artists and styles to highlight. Bodenheim's work, with its focus on childhood and Dutch identity, fits neatly into this narrative. To fully understand Bodenheim's contribution, we can look at archives of Dutch children's literature, studies of early 20th-century design, and exhibition catalogues from the period. The art historian pieces together such fragments to reveal the rich social and cultural context.