Elk diertje heeft zijn pleziertje 1881

Curator: This print, "Elk diertje heeft zijn pleziertje," from 1881 by De Ruyter & Meijer, it's certainly packed with detail. I'm struck by the arrangement of these almost comic strip-like panels. What captures your eye first? Editor: I notice the way it mixes the human and animal worlds; some scenes feature only animals behaving like people, and others show the interactions between them. There's a real sense of narrative, even though each little scene is separate. How do you interpret that use of multiple scenes together? Curator: From a materialist perspective, the mass production of printed images like these is crucial. Consider the social context: this print likely circulated widely, finding its way into homes and businesses. What kind of labor was involved in creating the drawing, transferring it to a printing plate, and then producing countless copies? Were the artists part of an established workshop, or working independently? And who was consuming it? Editor: That's interesting. I hadn’t considered it in terms of the labor involved, only really thinking about the final object, its humour and tone. So the choices made – the specific style of drawing, the colours used – these could also reflect the intended market, what would appeal to them? Curator: Precisely. This wasn't fine art intended for a wealthy elite, but affordable imagery for a broader audience. Consider how the artists chose familiar scenes of daily life and injected humor into them, reflecting a specific mode of cultural production aimed at a certain segment of society. Editor: Thinking about it that way helps me appreciate how even a seemingly lighthearted image like this can tell us about production and social class, what labor went into it, and how it would be sold! Thanks for a new perspective. Curator: Glad to help see you look deeper, now notice all those details when you look at art.