Gezicht op een steeg in Pisa 1889 - 1893

Curator: Look at this gorgeous silver gelatin print, dating from between 1889 and 1893, titled "Gezicht op een steeg in Pisa" – or "View of an alley in Pisa." It's the work of Johanna Margaretha Piek, and quite something. Editor: My first thought? Ghostly. Not scary, but…there’s a temporal distance, like peering into a memory. The tones are muted, and it's all framed in this… almost porthole-like shape. Very intimate. Curator: Piek’s work often explored cityscapes and everyday life through a lens that aligned with Pictorialism. Notice how it echoes post-impressionist painting. It is like she isn't just recording but interpreting the scene. The people seem more like brushstrokes. Editor: Precisely! The blurred figures enhance that sense, these figures could mean something symbolic about the time it was shot, I see what appears to be two figures on wheeled seats. Curator: They could indicate travel, the inevitable journey that we are all making... Or perhaps the modern means of transport in 1890s. They evoke themes of ephemerality and transformation, of transition. Editor: Perhaps it represents, also, a modern update on traditional portrayals of the Three Fates or classical stories involving weaving on a loom, a modern-day twist to such historical images. The monochromatic tone further distills everything. No colour to distract from the forms and symbolism. It also emphasizes the past. Curator: Yes, by removing colour, the tones focus your attention on the geometry of the arcade and its relation to people moving along on these new wheeled contraptions! Which might easily go unnoticed if rendered in true colour. It transforms what could be banal, into an artful composition of light, shadow, and suggestion. Editor: It truly feels like stumbling upon someone else’s fleeting yet precious moment captured for us to observe through all time. Like eavesdropping on their inner thoughts. Curator: Absolutely. Johanna Margaretha Piek offered a unique voice blending both a painterly and a photographer's sensibility to everyday existence, allowing us, now, to reflect on themes still relevant to the way we inhabit our lives within built spaces today.