Marché à la Viande, New York (Meat Market, New York) 1908

Curator: Ah, yes, this is Jean-Émile Laboureur's "Marché à la Viande, New York," or "Meat Market, New York," created around 1908. It's an ink and pen drawing that gives us a glimpse into the daily life of that era. Editor: It certainly does. The immediate impression I get is a feeling of industry and also a sense of everydayness. The strokes are quick, functional, yet very expressive. The earthy color, which results from the pen-and-ink technique, is so powerful! Curator: It is remarkable how Laboureur captured the dynamism of a busy marketplace using such limited materials. What's fascinating is considering what New York meant for European artists at the turn of the century and the novelty of subject matter, portraying the reality of the labor of butchers, counter workers, and sellers. Editor: Right, and consider the consumer as a labor source. I am very interested in how this drawing acts as an image produced for potential consumers—people ready to buy, people performing the service. Where are those spectators in this marketplace? It’s such a powerful social context being rendered on paper with such rudimentary materials. The very act of witnessing that social scene gets material embodiment through pen and paper. Curator: Indeed! The artwork reflects the burgeoning industrial society and the evolving role of the meat industry in a globalized world. You can consider its historical impact by noting how similar themes permeate through much of the 20th and 21st century’s creative landscape. The politics surrounding the meat market, of course, never went away! Editor: Looking at it today, there's also a question of how the museum influences art consumption in the modern day. Consider what institutional choices dictated how we can look at and contemplate something like an old ink drawing on paper today. Curator: So, it becomes a cyclical image. Laboureur represents the social function of a meat market in pen and ink, and we are now socially viewing and ascribing a potential economic and social value to that scene by virtue of our museum visit. Editor: Absolutely! The value, or lack thereof, is materialized once more simply through consumption, this time both economically and visually in a very specific way. Curator: It gives a fresh view on both past and contemporary society when observed in that context, I think. Editor: I couldn’t agree more. I'm drawn to the constant, revolving interpretation, as it's constantly being processed, produced, and delivered back to consumers.