Tekstblad met vogels, onder andere roerdomp, gans, ooievaar en kraai 1892

This lithograph of birds was made by Theo van Hoytema, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is made with lithography, a printmaking process based on the simple principle that oil and water don’t mix. The artist likely drew his composition on a flat slab of limestone with a greasy crayon, allowing for wonderfully subtle tonal variation. This is beautifully visible in the depiction of the birds. In the lithographic process, the stone is then treated so that ink adheres only to the drawn areas. From this, multiple impressions can be made. The imagery here is of birds, yet also the text implies a political gathering. The choice of lithography may be of significance, as the medium’s reproducibility allowed images and texts to circulate widely in an era of political upheaval. This print blurs boundaries: it is both an artwork and a means of disseminating ideas. As such, it invites us to reconsider the relationship between the aesthetic and the political.