Hush! A stockholder who just touched his dividend!, p. 21 1853

Editor: Here we have Paul Gavarni’s lithograph, "Hush! A stockholder who just touched his dividend!" The lines are so intricate, giving it a frantic, almost secretive energy. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: I'm interested in the production context of this image. Gavarni's lithographs were made for mass consumption. How does the subject – the stockholder and his dividends – reflect broader social anxieties about wealth and labor during that time? Was it meant to be critical, celebratory, or simply observational? Editor: That's a fascinating point about mass consumption! I hadn't thought about how the artwork itself might be part of the economic system it depicts. Curator: Exactly! Thinking about the materiality of printmaking and its accessibility opens up a whole new way of understanding its message.