Ontwerp voor In Holland staat een Huis: silhouet van een tuinman 1884 - 1917

Nelly Bodenheim designed this silhouette of a gardener for the book "In Holland staat een Huis". Bodenheim, who came from a well-to-do family, started her career at a time of changing social structures and expectations around women's roles. This silhouette taps into a romantic vision of rural life. The gardener, a figure often associated with the working class, is rendered with a certain quaintness. His tools and pipe give him a sense of simple contentment. Bodenheim was part of a larger movement which embraced folk tales, craft, and the aesthetics of the everyday, thus maintaining a traditional representation of the working class and their relation to nature. Bodenheim herself lived through immense social change. She found success illustrating children's books, creating characters and scenes that reflected a specific vision of Dutch identity. The emotional appeal of this silhouette lies in its simplicity, which evokes a sense of nostalgia and longing for a simpler, perhaps idealized, past.