Instapper van zwart leer met een tong van zwart krokodillenleer c. 1960 - 1970

Curator: So austere, like twin monoliths from a monochrome dream. Editor: Indeed. What we’re looking at is a photograph, likely from around 1960 to 1970, taken by A. van Goethem. The title, directly translated, tells us plainly what we see: “Loafer of black leather with a tongue of black crocodile leather.” Currently, it resides in the Rijksmuseum collection. Curator: Crocodile, huh? It gives off this air of suppressed wildness, doesn't it? Like taming a primordial beast just enough to make it...footwear. There’s something humorous in the contrast, a touch of camp, wouldn't you agree? Editor: I'd lean more towards intentional sophistication. Observe how the stark studio lighting emphasizes the geometry; the grid-like pattern on the crocodile leather sharply juxtaposed against the smooth, almost liquid shine of the adjacent leather. The light reflecting off these surfaces, the shadows precisely controlled. These create depth while affirming its flatness as a photographic object. Curator: Oh, but the gleam nearly transcends the photo’s surface. I can almost smell that shoe-shop aroma! Polished leather dreams of jazz clubs, secret rendezvous and quiet power moves, of course. And the emptiness, so… isolating? Like they’re waiting patiently in a sartorial purgatory, and I can’t decide what foot deserves to know that life. Editor: This isolation emphasizes the archetypal essence of a loafer. Free of external referents or a human presence, the objects command attention as symbols—economic class, and conventional aesthetic standards—all operating beneath the patina. The photo isolates this specimen perfectly! Curator: Right. Like dissecting a frog for a school project, we get it, but somehow still prefer hopping alongside him near the lily pads. Editor: Fair point. It seems even quotidian commodities can become powerful semiotic vehicles through skillful framing and staging. Curator: Exactly. Van Goethem took such care composing what can still be translated as ‘humble fashion’ through the immortalizing, powerful language of photography. That resonates.