Tot slaaf gemaakte vrouw 1880 - 1937

Curator: Henri van der Stok's piece, dating sometime between 1880 and 1937, presents us with a seemingly demure nude figure in ink on paper, titled "Tot slaaf gemaakte vrouw"—"Enslaved Woman" if translated. What strikes you first about this drawing? Editor: The posture; her downturned gaze and hands clasped behind her back immediately communicate a sense of shame and submission. There's a visual narrative of lost power, especially when considering the symbolic weight nudity carries. Curator: Absolutely. The title complicates any easy reading of the female nude as simply an object of desire. We must confront the uncomfortable realities of power, subjugation, and the objectification of women. Van der Stok created this drawing, likely influenced by late 19th and early 20th-century European Symbolism. Editor: And that era was ripe with visual vocabulary! The beaded cap, the patterned cloth covering her lower body… they could be markers of cultural identity deliberately deployed to signal difference, otherness. Even the ball at her feet seems symbolic, as if she has given up child's play or innocence itself. It is a very eroticized piece. Curator: The fact that it is ink on paper enhances that vulnerability, that fragility of her identity. The medium feels deliberately intimate, a sketch almost, making it feel immediate. Editor: Given Van der Stok’s social milieu, did he intend this as critique? Or did he merely use this visual shorthand to explore contemporary fixations with race and gender? Either way, the image functions as an echo, revealing to contemporary viewers these enduring issues. Curator: It's an interesting conundrum. The historical context demands we interrogate the motivations and potential biases that may have informed its creation. The symbolic layers resonate powerfully regardless of intent. It becomes our duty to consider what messages are conveyed. Editor: Ultimately, that makes it so very powerful. I find it difficult to pull away from that stare, it gives pause and makes one want to understand what that time period did to shape our own culture. Curator: Yes, Van der Stok has certainly gifted us with something worth contemplating here at the Rijksmuseum.