Vijf foto's van landhuis De Wilde Zwanen in Laren 1939 - 1940

This is a page from a photo album made by Norbert van den Berg, probably around the 1940s, with gelatin silver prints of a country house called De Wilde Zwanen, in Laren. It’s interesting that Van den Berg chose to present the images this way, a whole series of shots of the same subject on one page. It gives us a more holistic view of the building than a single shot ever could. Each photograph has a different quality of light and shadow, a different perspective, so that, put together, they create a kind of portrait of a place. The grainy texture of the gelatin silver print gives the images a lovely depth and tactility. Look at the bottom right picture, the way the trees obscure the house. There is something about the sharp focus on the foliage that I find intriguing. It is like the landscape itself is consuming the building. It reminds me of some of the photographic series by Ed Ruscha, in that both share a similar interest in presenting multiple perspectives on a single subject.