Picador richt zijn lans op een stier after 1790

Editor: This engraving, “Picador richt zijn lans op een stier,” made sometime after 1790 by an anonymous artist, is really striking. I’m immediately drawn to the somewhat chaotic scene of the bullfight, and wonder about the story behind it. What can you tell me about it? Curator: From a materialist perspective, this engraving is fascinating. Consider the labour involved in its production: the mining and refinement of the metal for the plate, the craftsmanship required for the engraving itself, and the paper on which it's printed. These material elements dictate both its physical form and its dissemination within a specific socio-economic system. Who do you think consumed such images and for what purpose? Editor: I guess wealthier people because they had the means to purchase such artworks, possibly to admire them or learn about different traditions. Curator: Precisely. These prints circulated within a culture that romanticized and consumed spectacles like bullfighting. The artist's labor is therefore complicit in reproducing the ideologies surrounding class, spectacle, and even colonialism – if we consider bullfighting's roots and spread. Editor: That's a very interesting angle I hadn't considered before. How the physical materials and the means of production tie into the cultural implications of the image itself. Curator: Yes. We should always ask, what kind of labor, materials and economic exchange makes the image visible and consumable? That's the materialist's perspective. Editor: I understand better now. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure!