Drie mannen op plantage Accaribo 1911 - 1932

Editor: Here we have an intriguing photograph entitled "Drie mannen op plantage Accaribo," dating from 1911 to 1932, created by an anonymous photographer. It’s a gelatin-silver print currently held at the Rijksmuseum. I'm immediately struck by the tonal range – it’s almost monochromatic but the blurring is pretty good.. What compositional elements stand out to you? Curator: The composition exhibits a deliberate layering of forms. Note how the density of the foliage in the midground throws up a textural juxtaposition against the lighter tones of the sky and the figures’ garments. Also consider how the placement of the three men creates a series of vertical vectors which cut the natural and organic setting. Do you think there is any purpose or hidden reason they stand there, at those positions? Editor: That's a great point about the visual layering, almost to hide them a little. I hadn't really seen the image as vectors, just subjects among an array of plants and tress.. Now you point it out, they really break-up a somewhat natural scene.. Curator: Exactly. This juxtaposition highlights the contrast between the cultivated and the wild. The tight cropping does serve to flatten out any suggestion of depth in pictorial space. This has the further effect of drawing the eye’s attention away from representational concerns to questions of the photographic image's ontological status as surface. How do you read that tension between representation and objecthood? Editor: So, it becomes more about *how* it’s captured, not *what* is captured. Very interesting.. The composition disrupts easy readings. This feels different from conventional portraits. I wonder why the anonymous artist choose to use this format of space and position.. Curator: Precisely. I agree. The use of gelatin silver print also suggests attention to the texture and materiality of the photographic object. So the image oscillates in a formal ambiguity between the represented image and its actual physical instantiation as object, no? Editor: Absolutely. I had never seen all of that before your observation. Thank you. Curator: The pleasure was all mine. Hopefully, listeners at home can explore and create a better opinion too.