Stam van een beukenboom 1927

Curator: So, we’re looking at "Stam van een beukenboom," or "Trunk of a Beech Tree," an etching and woodcut by Simon Moulijn, created around 1927, here at the Rijksmuseum. It's really quite striking. Editor: Gosh, you’re not wrong! It feels…ancient. You can almost hear the rustling of leaves, even though it's just black and white. Like looking into the heartwood of the woods, revealing stories. Curator: Exactly! What interests me is Moulijn's decision to use both etching and woodcut techniques here. Etching, with its fine lines achieved through acid on metal, versus the more direct, graphic quality of the woodcut. The combination suggests an investigation into different modes of representing texture, layering, and frankly, a mass-producible piece of artwork for Dutch society. Editor: I didn’t think of mass appeal; to me, it felt almost reverential. He focuses intently on this single, dominant beech, making it feel monumental. The tree's knotholes almost feel like the eyes of some forest spirit peering out. A natural guardian. Curator: That anthropomorphism is not unusual in depictions of trees throughout art history, though. Considering that the woodblock element allowed for relative ease in production of numerous prints, do you see this imposing natural feature functioning as a symbol in contrast with rapidly industrializing Dutch landscape during the Interwar period? Editor: Maybe. The Romantic movement sure did lionize nature and stand it up as an alter ego for the state of human culture. But if so, there's also a fragility to it. Look how exposed it is, naked among all the foliage. It makes you feel for the old tree. I'm even tempted to make a rubbing... Curator: Well, best to stick to respectful looking at it from here. Perhaps Moulijn's choice to render the tree isolated speaks to this, yes? It invites contemplation about both the power and fragility of the natural world facing increasing pressure from the urban environment, captured using methods accessible for dissemination. Editor: It works, I suppose, for some viewers, like me, anyway! Simon Moulijn invites a strange mix of awe and empathy for that lone tree, for sure. Curator: Absolutely. A beautiful, melancholic meditation using both industry and tradition, at that.