Magere keuken 1563 - 1608

Editor: Here we have Pieter van der Borcht the Elder’s, "Magere keuken", or "Meagre Kitchen," a print made sometime between 1563 and 1608. It’s incredibly detailed. I find myself drawn to the composition and line work of the print and the use of line. It depicts figures that have animal heads but with the bodies of human. It's pretty unusual. What catches your eye in terms of artistic intention or composition? Curator: The formal arrangement compels me. The strong horizontals of the architecture – the table, the shelves – create a foundation, disrupted by the verticality of the figures and the chimney. Note the light, delicate hatching employed to render the texture of the surfaces. The lack of perspective flattens the image, almost pressing the scene against the picture plane. Does this flatness affect your reading of the narrative? Editor: Absolutely! It's like a stage. Are you saying the formal qualities emphasize a lack of depth? A certain symbolic weight? Curator: Precisely. The artist juxtaposes linear precision with grotesque imagery to force the viewer to reconcile this pictorial contradiction, doesn’t it? What semiotic conclusion might be deduced through the relation of form to the subject? Editor: I guess it’s hard to ignore that those aren’t people. And a symbolic connection is almost unavoidable. Maybe this image emphasizes a lack of... human warmth and social harmony within this setting, reflected by their state? Or at least that they lack in these virtues, and should seek greater personal enrichment? Curator: Indeed. Note how, from the formalistic viewpoint, the relationship between surface and symbol converge upon the same thematic conclusions through its symbolic relations? Editor: Absolutely. It shows how studying visual construction and the content work together to communicate a narrative. I think I have a much better understanding now.