Aronskelken 1919

Curator: Immediately, I feel like I’m peering into some strange, serene, secret garden. The starkness of the black and white is so dramatic. Editor: And that's quite appropriate. We're looking at "Aronskelken", or "Calla Lilies", a 1919 linocut by Samuel Jessurun de Mesquita, currently housed here at the Rijksmuseum. It's a stunning example of his printmaking prowess. Curator: Linocut… which explains that incredible texture. It almost pulsates! What is it about calla lilies that captures artists, do you think? They're just so...stylized. Like nature performing theatre. Editor: Perhaps it’s the way they symbolize purity and rebirth, rising elegantly from the earth, seemingly untouched by the soil itself. De Mesquita manipulates the flower here in relation to themes of loss and conflict within a fraught political era, rendering it complex. Note the backdrop, and consider its emotional effect on us as the audience. Curator: Those vertical lines…they almost vibrate! It feels both modern and… I don't know, ancestral. Like standing in front of a tribal mask carved with ritual purpose. The calla lilies appear trapped, caught within that framework. Do you think this artist found a deeper connection between the flowers and rigid vertical symbolism of entrapment? Editor: Indeed, his work often wrestled with duality—beauty intertwined with something harsher. He explores mortality throughout his works by placing symbolic flowers such as lilies as stand-ins for life's ephemeral beauty, in juxtaposition to strict lines alluding to restriction or control. It’s a powerful contrast to be sure. The linocut medium enhances it, making those stark black and white oppositions almost…painful. Curator: So the image uses those lines to subtly indicate entrapment while juxtaposing those linear ideas with softer edges and forms... making an interesting connection for me between imprisonment and the delicate organic forms of the lillies. Editor: A perfect visual encoding. Well, it’s a powerful and moving work – I keep finding new things in it. Curator: Absolutely! Its deceptive simplicity holds a lot more weight once you start to unravel its layers.