Odds & Ends, in, out & about, the Great Exhibition of 1851 1851

Editor: We are looking at "Odds & Ends, in, out & about, the Great Exhibition of 1851," a print and drawing by George Cruikshank from 1851. It has a cartoonish style and feels very observational. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I am immediately struck by the means of production: a pen-and-ink sketch reproduced as an engraving, making it widely available. This itself speaks volumes about Victorian society and its hunger for visual representations of events. Notice how the print’s format mimics a newspaper comic strip, dissecting the spectacle of the Great Exhibition into vignettes. What does that say about popular reception of such events? Editor: It's interesting how the format makes the exhibition accessible, even if satirically. It's a form of mass media engagement. Curator: Exactly. Cruikshank’s use of relatively inexpensive materials and printing techniques democratized access to this commentary, reaching a broad audience and fostering public dialogue, unlike, say, an oil painting destined for a wealthy collector. Think about the labor involved in both creating the original sketch and reproducing it on a mass scale. That is to say, what’s the social implication of his choices in materials and techniques? Editor: It's about bringing a critical perspective to the masses, then. It does so by challenging the conventional "high art" status associated with fine art. Curator: Precisely. It blurs the boundaries and questions the very notion of artistic value, as seen through materials and production. Editor: This focus on production and reception makes me rethink how I perceive historical prints; I need to consider their social impact! Curator: Indeed. It’s about materials and mass culture; understanding how they shaped, and were shaped by, artistic expression and audience consumption in that era.