Aangemeerde vissersboten 1871 - 1918

Curator: Henriëtte van Hove created "Aangemeerde vissersboten," or "Moored Fishing Boats," a woodcut print sometime between 1871 and 1918. What's your initial response to this scene? Editor: It feels like a melancholic juxtaposition, those stoic boats rendered in these rather somber colours anchored before a belching industrial landscape. It really evokes a sense of lost harmony, doesn’t it? Curator: Indeed. It reflects the era’s growing pains, witnessing burgeoning industrialization impacting established communities. Woodcuts, particularly during this period, often highlighted social realities—the fishing boats symbolize tradition and perhaps a vanishing way of life, facing the looming progress signified by those factories. Editor: And note how the chimneys mirror the masts, creating a visual echo? Is she equating the labour and purpose of the fishing industry with this new industrial drive, implying perhaps, they’re equally bound to larger, impersonal forces? The symbolism runs deep here. Curator: Precisely. And it is worthwhile noting that it is an unusual way to see boats moored, generally speaking paintings of such subjects were either commissioned or to celebrate such way of life, with industrial progress looming in the back it becomes obvious van Hove makes a commentary here. The black smoke acts as a kind of "dark" flag here as a signal of a stark new world order Editor: The artist has quite cleverly contrasted those dark colours of the fishing boats against the greys of the cityscape. You are almost expecting to hear them crying here, in despair and sadness while also showing the strong tradition it takes for a culture to die in full Curator: We can understand that the artist intended the factories on the background, given her location in the Low Countries region, since it was indeed changing to face an unknown future as technological improvements developed exponentially through those times Editor: There is a certain truth to that, thanks for pointing this piece and this image does scream of a world we have never seen anymore