Geschiedenis van Roodkapje 1875 - 1903

Curator: This lithograph, entitled "Geschiedenis van Roodkapje," or "History of Little Red Riding Hood," dates roughly between 1875 and 1903 and is attributed to Jan de Haan. It presents a sequential retelling of the classic fairy tale. Editor: It strikes me immediately as a kind of pre-cinema storyboard. Each scene is carefully contained, and the flat, almost cartoonish style highlights the story's structure, almost like a commodity to be consumed panel by panel. Curator: Absolutely. We see how popular narratives are circulated and understood during that period. The use of a print, specifically a lithograph, democratized access to imagery and storytelling, particularly for children. The medium itself speaks to the social purpose: accessible education and moral instruction through visual storytelling. Editor: And it's fascinating how the lithographic process allows for a relatively inexpensive reproduction, extending its reach. We see the raw materials—the paper, the ink—contributing to the dissemination of cultural narratives. The print is designed for a certain handling, probably pinned up in nurseries or handled frequently, so the materiality connects to the narrative's lived context. It transforms a luxury into functional ephemera. Curator: Precisely. The artist or publisher, De Haan, recognized the growing market for children's literature and visual aids. They were essentially mass-producing a cultural touchstone. And we should not underestimate how these visual narratives contributed to social norms of children as audience, especially about safety and authority. Editor: You see it was produced to disseminate morality, to reproduce social rules for child consumption! However, this simple little lithograph tells a complex story about the mass production of culture, its impact, and how we all interpret this traditional story. Curator: The lithograph, in that way, highlights the dynamic interaction between artistic creation, mass production, and the social construction of storytelling.