Kolentrein in het bos achter The Art Building op de wereldtentoonstelling in St. Louis (Louisiana Purchase Exposition), 1904 1904

This photograph by Jan Schüller was captured in 1904 at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, using what looks like a gelatin silver process. The world’s fair; the forest; the locomotive. It’s an odd combination, and it feels like a snapshot. The tonal range is very soft, almost like a charcoal drawing, and that triangle of missing emulsion in the foreground only adds to the feeling of fragility, like it could crumble to dust at any moment. It’s easy to imagine Schüller, out for a stroll through the fairgrounds, and happening upon this unlikely juxtaposition of nature and industry. The eye is led from that little white triangle, back and into the dark tangle of undergrowth, following the line of the train as it recedes into the distance. It reminds me a little of some of Eugène Atget’s photographs of the park at Versailles. In both cases, there’s a sense of nature reclaiming what was once a highly constructed space. Ultimately this feels like a reflection on change, progress, and the passage of time.