Kinderen in schoolbanken

Curator: This is “Children in School Desks,” a woodcut or linocut print by Carel Adolph Lion Cachet. It's part of the Rijksmuseum collection and thought to date sometime between 1874 and 1945. Editor: It's so wonderfully grainy. Makes me think of old photographs, you know, the kind where everyone looks like they're holding their breath for the camera? There's something very somber about it, a kind of contained energy, even in a simple scene. Curator: Absolutely. Cachet created this image at a time of significant changes in education. Universal education was being implemented across Europe and also here in the Netherlands, and compulsory schooling had a huge impact, becoming an agent for social control and reform. What are your thoughts on how he has managed to express all that in a simple black and white print? Editor: The faces, or rather, the obscured faces! They tell such a tale of conformity, don't they? Individuality almost erased in the pursuit of uniformity. Yet, you see little glimmers of spirit peeking through – especially in the child's patterned clothing in the foreground which clashes a little with everything else around. Was Cachet trying to tell us something by focusing on these very precise parts of the image? Curator: I think that's a beautiful point. Look closer, the setting itself appears oppressive with those stark desks arranged almost militaristically. There's little natural light visible; everything is controlled and ordered and everyone follows the system. I can see why, today, people respond so strongly to its underlying message! It speaks about how societies need to embrace a more organic approach to learning, a journey where our children find, as Cachet says, "Beauty and meaning in what lies closest to them" Editor: It’s a small image in size but profound in its implications. I leave feeling this urge to unleash every child’s inner artist. I think Cachet was a brave soul and was very avant-garde. Curator: A truly powerful image that captures the complexities of education and its role in shaping young minds. It leaves us reflecting on the balance between structure and freedom, conformity and individuality.