The Wolf pleading against the Fox, in front of the Monkey 1833 - 1843

Curator: This print, "The Wolf Pleading Against the Fox, in front of the Monkey" comes to us from J. J. Grandville, and was produced between 1833 and 1843. You can find it here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Grandville was a master of lithography. He used the medium for illustration as biting social commentary, often through anthropomorphic figures. Editor: Anthropomorphic indeed. Look at this lineup! It’s a wonderfully strange image. So formal and yet utterly absurd. It has a slightly grim mood with undertones of some twisted fable. Curator: Grandville uses the popular animal fable, a type of storytelling extremely popular since the Medieval era, as a structure. If we look closely at the textural variety achieved through the lithographic process, you can see he creates a clear distinction in social standing through his use of costuming and scale. Notice the ragged fur and smaller stature of the wolf. The precise, tailored suit of the fox suggests the artist used varied techniques to describe labor exploitation. Editor: Exploitation is a great point, I’m thinking about how our own expectations color this reading. It is so weirdly dark. Look at the monkey dressed in legal robes acting as the judge! What do you think about how its composition plays with traditional genre painting? The whole scene reads as satirical. I keep expecting something overtly comical, but this just offers this rather cynical, melancholic reflection. Curator: Well, Grandville certainly understood the political implications of print culture at the time, with technological advances allowing the proliferation of images at affordable rates. But did that really allow him the space for political dissidence? Perhaps that’s where the tension in the fable and its cynical presentation lies. Editor: Perhaps it's the very limitations of its means of production that made it so fascinating and emotionally resonant for us now, wouldn’t you agree? Curator: Definitely something to consider. Thank you for that evocative note, that's worth pondering as we move on.