The Ploughman 1827

Curator: What a dense, captivating little world Edward Calvert etched into this engraving, "The Ploughman," back in 1827. It’s teeming with life, isn’t it? Editor: Intensely worked, for sure. All that cross-hatching—I bet the plate wore down quickly. It gives the whole scene this rather heavy, earthy feel. Reminds me a bit of the pre-industrial agricultural methods. Look at those oxen and the labor. Curator: Yes! There’s a primal feel to it. It reminds me of a dream I once had, half Virgil, half Blake. The straining figures, the ripe vegetation…almost overflowing with life's generative forces. See the ploughman, he’s almost nude, yet not sexualised, and he drives his oxen into a lush countryside setting! A rural paradise! Editor: But that paradise is produced through a whole system of labor. Consider the physicality involved, both for the animals and the human figures. That concentration of labor, visible right there in the furrowed landscape, is what strikes me. This isn't some idyllic escape; it is toil. Curator: I get your point. But there is some hidden escapism though…those ethereal, almost ghostly figures in the background, frolicking…they are surely intended as figures for us, they show us paradise as possibility beyond labor. Calvert seemed to believe, from his own writings and the evidence we have of his own lifestyle, that the modern man might live a rustic ideal. Editor: An ideal sustained, I insist, by material processes! Even the texture of the print, the weight of the ink on the page—these aren’t incidental. They underscore the labour-intensive character of its creation. Calvert carefully chose a laborious medium for representing the virtues of manual toil, of a whole productionist social system that had an established materiality and purpose. Curator: It's remarkable how much depth and movement Calvert achieved within such a compact space and by engraving to such detail; look how he contrasts light and shadow, creating depth in such a seemingly simple manner. The man knew his craft for certain. It's pure alchemy! I get quite lost looking at the engraving itself. Editor: Lost, yes, in a carefully constructed, printed reality! Anyway, it's an evocative piece. Certainly sparks plenty of avenues for conversation. Curator: Indeed. A tiny universe prompting huge thoughts… which, in essence, may just be what Edward Calvert would want!