['Choragus', 'Christ and Mary Magdalena'] before 1890

These prints, "Choragus" and "Christ and Mary Magdalena", are by Carl Stockmann. We cannot be sure of the exact date, but it is safe to say they were made possible by developments in industrial printing. These images, appearing within the pages of a book, demonstrate a fascinating intersection of artistic expression and industrial production. The prints are monochromatic, and would have been created through a process like lithography or engraving, involving skilled artisans transferring an image onto a printing plate. The texture of the paper, its weight, and the fineness of the lines all contribute to the image's legibility, and its ultimate cultural impact. Looking closely, we might also think of the labor involved, not only in the artist's original conception, but also in the complex, collaborative work of typesetting, printing, and binding. These processes, embedded in the age of mass production, made art accessible to a wider audience, while inevitably detaching it from the aura of the unique, hand-crafted object. Therefore, when interpreting prints like this, we can appreciate the art itself, while also acknowledging the social and economic circumstances of its creation.