Svinet og anden; Lækatten 1845

Curator: This lithograph by Adolph Kittendorff, dating back to 1845, presents us with two vignettes side-by-side: "Svinet og anden; Lækatten," or "The Pig and the Duck; The Weasel". It's part of the Statens Museum for Kunst's collection. Editor: It strikes me immediately with its starkness. The realism, or perhaps the *attempt* at realism, feels somewhat crude. Look at how different the textures are: The pig is rough, almost comical, while the weasel seems so still, so pristine in contrast. Curator: Indeed. Considering Kittendorff's practice, we see that the means of lithographic production enabled a wider circulation of these images to a broad public. Such prints played a critical role in shaping visual culture and were central to national identity and discussions around land and agriculture in Denmark during the mid-19th century. Editor: Right. It’s a comment on Denmark's relationship with nature and its perception during that era. Think about the pig—likely a farm animal—existing in the same print as a wild animal. Does this proximity invite a societal critique on domestication, our interaction with wildness? Curator: Perhaps. And what's crucial here is to note how the act of printmaking makes these images reproducible. That fact alone creates accessibility that sculpture or painting could not. Editor: Certainly. The accessibility implies a reach that goes beyond the elite and enters domestic spaces more easily through reproduced media such as this, wouldn’t you say? The public is now privy to the images, even if that image reflects back a society and system which may still be beyond their access. Curator: I agree. What seems initially to be just illustrations are, upon closer look, windows into a specific era’s complicated interplay between humans, animals, and the systems, technologies, and materials that reproduce how they view them. Editor: So even in these simple, almost humble lithographs, there's this dialogue, or perhaps more like a negotiation between production and representation within society and power. It's fascinating.