Portret van Andrew Donaldson, schoolmeester in Dunfermline 1789

Editor: Here we have John Kay’s "Portret van Andrew Donaldson, schoolmeester in Dunfermline," an engraving from 1789. The details are fascinating. How does a materialist approach deepen our appreciation of this seemingly straightforward portrait? Curator: Let’s consider the materials themselves: paper, ink, and the copper plate used for the engraving. Each demanded specific skilled labor, a collective effort rather than a singular "artistic genius". This print would have been part of a broader system of production and consumption. Editor: That makes sense. I never really considered the production line. I just assumed it was all Kay. What did these materials and the means of making the print say about social context? Curator: Exactly! Engravings like these made images accessible. Consider the subject, a schoolmaster: education becoming more available and perhaps Kay is subtly promoting and supporting such changes through the reproduction of Donaldson’s image and profession? Do you think the availability of this engraving democratized art? Editor: Hmm, perhaps to a degree. More people *could* see it, but did they all have access to buy it? Is that why portrait paintings were usually reserved for the wealthy but prints such as these are more common for the working class? Curator: Precisely! Its reproducibility questions the very idea of a unique “masterpiece”. It invites a deeper exploration of what was considered valuable in 18th-century Scotland and how labor influenced artistic creation and availability. Editor: So, thinking about who owned this image, and why, tells us more about it than just analyzing its neoclassical style? Curator: Definitely. By focusing on the process, materials, and social forces behind it, we avoid limiting our view to just aesthetics. I guess understanding more about the paper, ink and presses really expands our appreciation. Editor: Absolutely. I’ll certainly think about art’s making process more deeply now!