Aankondiging of titelhoofd voor de Eerste Moderne Internationale Tentoonstelling (EMIT) te Scheveningen 1923

Curator: Here we have a print by Chris Lebeau, made in 1923. It's titled "Aankondiging of titelhoofd voor de Eerste Moderne Internationale Tentoonstelling (EMIT) te Scheveningen"—quite a mouthful!—which translates to "Announcement or title page for the First Modern International Exhibition (EMIT) in Scheveningen." Editor: The first thing that strikes me is the stark contrast. The black ink against the pale paper gives it a rather graphic, assertive presence. It commands attention, wouldn't you say? Curator: Precisely. The formal composition hinges on that contrast. The artist utilizes a woodcut technique with bold lines and shapes, emphasizing the interplay between positive and negative space to convey a sense of modernity, appropriate for its function. The text is integrated as a block, playing with scale and proportion within the pictorial field. Editor: Those figures on either side—almost bookending the announcement—are fascinating. The one on the right, particularly, appears almost bird-like, and somewhat mythical with stylized rendering and symbolic resonance with transformations or higher state of consciousness.. Curator: Note how the simplified forms border on abstraction. Lebeau flattens perspective, compressing the figures and text into a cohesive visual plane. We might explore the way these choices impact the reading and circulation of the print at the time. The use of text as image is notable. Editor: It creates a symbolic frame. A gate through which the 'modern' is meant to pass. Look closely and note that one figure actively reaches for the other. Its reaching conveys striving, reaching. Curator: We might interpret the visual tension through structuralist frameworks as well; consider the opposing figures as a symbolic resolution of artistic viewpoints—figuration with abstraction and the material of its mode through line and layering. Editor: Or, on another level, of a synthesis of international perspectives, aligning under the banner of the modern. Both artistic and societal, reaching across symbolic space. I like the weight it carries for being, simply, an announcement. Curator: Indeed, a potent illustration of the interplay between form and function. It challenges our perceptions of visual language. Editor: It's definitely an invitation into a new visual era and is, frankly, an eye-opening glimpse into how art announces itself!