Handtekeningen en foto's van buitenlandse zakenrelaties van Hans Martin c. 1949

This is a page from a photo album featuring Hans Martin’s international business contacts, the date and maker are unknown. It's a collage of black and white photographs, and I’m drawn to how the signatures underneath each image create their own kind of abstract line drawing on the page. Look at the looping ‘J’ of "Jan van Rooy" – it's like a calligraphic gesture, each swoop and curve a record of the hand that made it. The photos are little windows into a world of serious-looking men in suits, colonial architecture, and vintage cars. The contrast between the formal portraits and the casual snapshots gives it a diaristic quality. It is a candid glimpse into a life and a time. Thinking about other artists, someone like Gerhard Richter comes to mind, particularly his use of photo albums as source material for his paintings. Like Richter, this album page feels like a meditation on memory, history, and the way we piece together our understanding of the world through fragmented images and gestures. And, as with any good artwork, the meaning remains pleasingly open-ended.