Verwoeste schuur en een huis in een ondergelopen buitenwijk van Parijs 1910 - 1911

Editor: Here we have "Verwoeste schuur en een huis in een ondergelopen buitenwijk van Parijs," a gelatin-silver print by G. Dangereux, created around 1910-1911. The image feels overwhelmingly… sad. Just total devastation. What do you make of it? Curator: Oh, that's interesting, I'm getting a haunted feeling as well, but perhaps something else is haunting here: maybe, not sadness so much as… stubborn resilience. Look at the houses still standing, even half-submerged! And then I'm struck by the clarity, the directness, that feels almost… journalistic? Do you see that, that attempt to objectively capture devastation? Editor: Journalistic, yes, I see what you mean. It's not romanticizing anything, is it? But still, a romantic landscape can also capture real devastation too! Curator: True, that's just one path towards getting to "the truth." Here's the beauty of this photo: the grey tones, the gelatin silver print quality... it evokes such a distant era and asks us: Are we not looking at something hauntingly present today? This makes the image very alive. Editor: I see it. The water doesn't look all that different from recent flooding photos from… well, so many places. So, there’s this really unsettling echo. I originally saw sadness, but resilience is also right there. Curator: Precisely! And seeing that, seeing how Dangereux composed all the information that our eyes process, the buildings standing tall and proud with this catastrophic event... That brings hope to our interpretation. What will rise from these ruins? Editor: Okay, I think my understanding of this piece did a 180 flip in just two minutes. This one will sit with me. Thanks. Curator: Glad to hear! Keep your eyes on more gelatin prints from around this period, you’ll be astounded by their magic, but also take notes on this devastating event! You never know, we might be living one ourselves very soon…