Gezicht op het Centraal Station vanuit het zuidwesten met op de voorgrond mannen met handkarren c. 1889 - 1900

Curator: Sober and a touch melancholic, I’d say. Almost like a stage set before the play begins. Editor: This is a gelatin silver print, captured between 1889 and 1900, and titled "View of the Central Station from the Southwest with Men with Handcarts in the Foreground" by Andries Jager. Curator: Ah, the bare bones of the magnificent Central Station, before the throngs of travelers animated its halls! Look at the stark contrast between the skeletal metalwork and the heavy brickwork alongside it. The station seems incomplete, yearning for purpose. Editor: The emphasis here, to my eye, is the materiality of labor. These handcarts become extensions of the men; the city infrastructure's dependence on their muscle becomes apparent. The artist emphasizes a sense of industry—the making of Amsterdam—through highlighting its construction, with social undertones around labour and economics. Curator: Do you think it sentimentalizes that labour? Because for me, the symmetry created by the repeated carts— almost a silent, ordered rhythm—tempers the potential bleakness. The image has a formal quality, the dirt roads turned almost theatrical. Editor: That’s a great point. Consider that this print could have circulated commercially as part of a campaign to showcase Amsterdam’s modernity. The handcarts, while signifying manual labor, are meticulously organized and well-maintained, which hints at the era’s broader societal efforts toward organization and perhaps glorifying progress itself. The consumption of this very image perpetuates these systems. Curator: Yes! And from my perspective, this photograph also serves as a snapshot of potential— a collective exhalation anticipating a transformation that's so close it's palpable. I appreciate Jager turning urban growth into something contemplative. Editor: Seeing the railway in this image through the context of industry, class and photographic dissemination...it brings up really challenging questions on representation. I now look at this print with more informed insight. Thank you for your artist take, Editor! Curator: Likewise! It has been an interesting point of view from the materialist standpoint. A captivating dance, truly.