Kippen op een kleine piano 1885 - 1931

Editor: This sketch, "Chickens on a small piano" by Willem Bastiaan Tholen, made sometime between 1885 and 1931 using graphite and pastel, has a certain offbeat humor to it, even if it is just a study. What do you make of it? Curator: Well, thinking historically, images of food – especially meat – often speak to economic conditions. But here, the placement on and around the piano changes things. Do you see a kind of commentary? Editor: It feels…satirical? Almost like these chickens are performers or…consumable entertainment? I can't put my finger on it, really. Curator: The late 19th century and early 20th saw growing tensions between traditional rural life and emerging consumer culture. The piano represents bourgeois domesticity, a symbol of status and leisure. The chickens, raw and dead, are intruding on that space. Does that suggest anything about how wealth was being made and at what cost? Editor: Oh! You mean, is Tholen maybe pointing to the contrast between refined domesticity and the perhaps less-than-refined origins of wealth? Like, the disconnect many had with the sources of their food and comforts? Curator: Precisely. It makes you wonder who this image was made for and how it might have been received. A casual sketch might reveal some unease around progress. Editor: That's a fascinating way to consider a seemingly simple still life. It makes me want to research the social context of food imagery during that time. Curator: Absolutely! Art reflects, reinforces, and sometimes challenges the social order. This piece really demonstrates that interplay. Editor: Thank you. I see this in an entirely different way now, especially in how seemingly mundane drawings are reflections of contemporary life.