Amsterdam Orphan Girl c. 1890 - 1910

Curator: Right now, we're looking at Nicolaas van der Waay's "Amsterdam Orphan Girl," painted sometime between 1890 and 1910. It's an oil painting, fairly representative of Dutch genre painting and realism from that period. Editor: She looks lost in her own little world, doesn't she? All soft shadows and quiet concentration. The light's almost haloing her head. It makes you wonder what secrets she's unlocking in that book. Or maybe she's just trying to escape the quiet. Curator: The orphanage was a very specific social institution. You have these young women in uniform. Their individuality gets suppressed. But at the same time, they're given an education, opportunities they wouldn't have had otherwise. The book is not just an object but also an expression of agency. Editor: It feels heavier than just agency though. Those impasto strokes— thick, determined. Is it loneliness congealing into focus? Or is it strength that makes her chin a bit determined? It's almost unsettling, the depth she holds. I can feel it. Curator: Precisely, but we have to ask ourselves: To what extent did art serve as propaganda? To what extent do these works serve as advertisements, recruiting or justifying those social institutions, by presenting the idea that there are only possible paths for these young girls and women in society? Editor: Oof, propaganda! Maybe it's naive, but the book, the light, even the folds in her apron - feels more about an intimate story than some calculated recruitment drive. Makes you think though: how much of ourselves can we find if our paths are chosen before they start. Curator: And maybe the genius of van der Waay lies precisely in this kind of visual ambiguity and his talent for merging reality and ideals. Editor: Exactly, it's that push and pull that makes the work memorable, that makes it stick in my head. Curator: I think that our exchange makes that aspect visible today, to contemporary eyes. Editor: Amen! Well, that made me question all sorts of cozy assumptions! Off to wrestle with that…