Illustration til "Gjordemoderen og Trolden" 1843

Curator: This woodcut print by Andreas Flinch, titled "Illustration til 'Gjordemoderen og Trolden'," dates back to 1843. It’s currently held at the SMK, the National Gallery of Denmark. Editor: It has such an eerie feel! The heavy lines, the stark contrast—it's almost claustrophobic. What's happening here? Curator: Well, Flinch created this piece to accompany a fairy tale, hence the 'fairy-painting' tag it sometimes carries. It portrays a midwife encountering a troll, according to the title. Editor: Ah, I see it now. The troll, in shadow, contrasts sharply with the luminous figure of the woman. She holds a candle; a beacon of light, and of humanity. Look how the lines around her soften, making her appear almost ethereal compared to the troll's roughly hewn form. Curator: Indeed. During the Romantic period, there was growing fascination with folklore and the darker sides of human experience. Artists explored themes of nature versus civilization and anxieties surrounding progress, so seeing this kind of narrative illustration become popular makes perfect sense. Editor: This woodcut process feels so apt here too, for storytelling. The harsh medium captures that crude rawness of nature. How do you feel this choice speaks to how stories have and continue to play an important role in our own lives? Curator: I agree with that. Woodcuts themselves had deep cultural significance, becoming important carriers of images among a largely illiterate populace, so Flinch consciously employs that connection to storytelling, tapping into collective cultural memories and a readily accessible visual language. Editor: Seeing how light and dark are depicted really gets my imagination going about how the world once was for storytellers and the public who admired these fairy paintings, so I thank Andreas Flinch for adding this work into our collection and human memory. Curator: It's pieces like these that allow us to glimpse into not only a story, but how this single story contributes and reveals a wider understanding of the world that produced and celebrated it.