Kind met poes III 1963

Editor: So, here we have Sonja Toebes’s 1963 pencil drawing, "Kind met poes III," or "Child with Cat III," currently held at the Rijksmuseum. There's something so intimate about the sketchiness, like we're catching a private moment. What catches your eye? Curator: What immediately strikes me is the relationship between childhood and representation. Toebes, working in the mid-20th century, places the child within a visual history of portraiture, while simultaneously hinting at modern anxieties around domesticity and control. Look at the deliberate incompleteness of the drawing – how does that speak to societal ideas about children at that time? Editor: It's interesting you point that out, because I initially just saw it as a stylistic choice. Does the cat symbolize anything in particular? Curator: Consider the cat as a cipher, reflecting ideas about both tenderness and untamed nature. In postwar Europe, the cat frequently appears in art as a domesticated animal. What socio-political narratives might be in play when placing the innocence of a child next to an animal representing independence? How could such an image function in the cultural landscape of the time? Editor: That's a perspective I hadn't considered! It really makes me think about the politics of the image, and how much can be read into seemingly simple subjects. Curator: Exactly. Art rarely exists in a vacuum, and examining how it engages with the societal landscape unveils compelling layers of meaning. Editor: I will definitely be spending more time investigating these details in other portraits now! Thanks for shedding some light on that. Curator: Likewise. Examining the layers of context in Toebes’s choice illuminates so much.