M’s print room presents: Impressive!
OH NO! MOURNING CARDS
How is working in the print room itself?
Bie: “When I started, about three years ago, the project had just begun. A lot was still in boxes from the time of Vander Kelen-Mertens. They asked each of us what we most wanted to do, and I opted for scanning.”
Lucienne: “I joined a little later. My work is description: filling out the dimensions of the print in a special software package, noting its origin, assessing the state of the paper, indicating whether it is a charcoal drawing, a watercolour, a pastel … You receive training in this first, and they also gave me documentation explaining all the possible things you can come across. If we can’t work it out ourselves, we can always ask for help.”
“I started with a whole series of devotional prints. At first, I thought, “Oh no, that’s just sad, mourning cards! But there were also communion cards, and prayer cards for all kinds of saints.”
Bie: “Scanning goes pretty fast, but you always have to check if the scan is ok, and for that you have to take a good look at the print itself. You register a lot, like this. And if there are any prints that really interest me, I call over someone from M: look what I came across here!”
“Some of those devotional prints, for example, can be pretty extreme. I remember one of a young man, who only just graduated when the First World War broke out. He volunteered, became a pilot, and crashed on his first flight. Or the picture of the mother who died in childbirth. You turn it over, and on the back, you see the obituary of her baby. Died three days later. Then you think: those people lived. This has been preserved. You stop and think for a moment.”
Lucienne: “I’ve never come across anything so dramatic. I had a lot of beguines, and they lived quite a long time (laughs).”
FABLES
There will be an exhibition at M, ‘Impressive!’, with a selection from the print room. Visitors will be able to see you at work there. What do you think about that?
Bie: “No problem, I was a teacher. I’m used to be observed.”
Lucienne: “It doesn’t bother me either. I’m very interested in what’s going on behind the scenes, so I understand why they do it. And it will be from a distance, anyway, people won’t be looking over our shoulders. Now, with COVID-19, certainly not, but even before the outbreak it was the intention to provide some distance.”
You are going to determine part of the selection along with the curators?
Bie: “Yes, we can indicate which prints are our favourites, and then a selection will be made from those. For me it will be an image that I sometimes had to think of during the lockdown: a drawing of people standing around a grave. I thought it was beautiful as soon as I scanned it – it turned out to be by Félicien Rops. I would certainly like to see it again.
“Also very interesting: a series of prints that were used as didactic material. Mathematics, astronomy, biology … I would like to know what time they came from and what they were used for.”
Lucienne: “I had to describe prints of the fables of La Fontaine. I found them beautiful and very interesting. Some of them were unfamiliar to me, so then I went and looked up the moral to the story. That’s how you learn.”
You were both looking for something that would stimulate you intellectually? Did you find it?
Lucienne: “Yes, the work here at M has encouraged me to visit other museums. I didn’t used to do that; I was too busy. But in the meantime, I’ve already been to the MAS, to Middelheim, to the photo museum in Antwerp … Without M, I don’t think I would have gotten around to it.”
Bie: “When new exhibitions open at M, volunteers are offered a guided tour with the curator. I always find that very interesting – they tell it with great passion. Afterwards I come back to have a quiet look at everything.”
“And once a year we go on an excursion. We did the Botanical Garden at Meise – very nice – and in the Royal Library we went to look at Bruegel’s prints and saw their print room behind the scenes. We are really pampered.”
Lucienne: “And you are clearly appreciated. They come to see what you’re doing; they answer your questions … That makes it worthwhile too.”
How long do you think you’ll be working with the print room?
Bie: “I’ve already asked that. They told me that there will be more than enough work for the rest of our lives (laughs).”