Internationale tentoonstelling van kunstnijverheid te Amsterdam, ter ere van Willem III, koning der Nederlanden 1877

Curator: What a find. Here we have a commemorative medal designed by Salomon de Vries in 1877. It was produced to mark the Internationale tentoonstelling van kunstnijverheid te Amsterdam, which honored Willem III, then King of the Netherlands. It's primarily metal. A relief, I think? Editor: It does feel heavy. I get a sense of pride, almost civic boosterism, holding something like this. So, on one side you've got old Willem staring back with that impressive beard, and the flip side looks like the mother of all conventions centers or maybe even some bizarre city hall. It's almost cartoonish! Curator: You are not wrong. It speaks volumes about the period. Consider how international exhibitions served as a kind of theater for nations, showcasing progress, technology, and artistic achievement. It's very strategic image building. This was after all, a time of intense nation-state formation and competition, of colonialism. Editor: It’s interesting, you see power struggles, while I see the small stories of all the visitors wandering those halls! Do you think they went home inspired? Maybe an artist discovered new techniques. Perhaps this medal itself ignited someone’s creativity? You've got these grand symbolic gestures colliding with such deeply human stuff. Curator: Precisely. That's the exciting tension. Who benefits from this 'progress'? Who is excluded? The very act of creating and distributing something like this shapes a particular narrative about who matters in society. Look closely at the relief itself. What sort of visual vocabulary is used? Where are the people? What statements are made? Editor: Okay, so perhaps the average attendee maybe went to have a good time, to enjoy spectacle. But I like to believe these medals become charged over time. People imbued these objects with feelings and with their own memories. I want to see someone discover it generations later in an attic, this quiet little relic unleashing floods of memory, stories they did not even live! Curator: That's the power of art objects, isn’t it? To bridge the historical distance. Editor: Definitely! So thanks for that fascinating deep dive into metal, trade and Willem's facial hair! It really adds a new layer to something that might otherwise just be a shiny disc.