Winter Possibly 1939 - 1941

Curator: This object is part of the Rijksmuseum's collection. It’s entitled "Winter" and although the creator is currently unknown, we know that it was likely created sometime between 1939 and 1941, rendered in gelatin silver print on paper. Editor: There’s a chilling austerity about these stark black and white snapshots tucked into what seems to be a wartime photo album. So small and precise yet…unnerving, like little icy fragments of history caught and pinned down. Curator: Indeed, the image offers a compelling view into the past, specifically wartime. We are faced with what appear to be historical photographs from the beginning of the Second World War: images of soldiers and officers against wintery backdrops. It presents visual documents, almost history-paintings, capturing those moments, those portraits, to be filed for future generations. Editor: It feels intensely private, wouldn't you agree? As if we've stumbled across a forgotten album. A single person, not concerned with us, preserved and organized these slivers of their past with remarkable…intention. You can imagine them sifting through the memories captured on paper. Curator: That intimacy also connects to wider narratives about photographic archives and their role in shaping collective memory, how photographs, like those in family albums or state archives, reflect power structures, and can create and maintain national identity. Consider that while the photographs themselves evoke cold austerity, this image offers them contextual warmth within its private, handcrafted archive. Editor: Absolutely. It is a strange paradox that, for me, somehow adds to its mystery. The casualness makes the war seem somehow much more... present. And while it feels very serious in context, there's also that odd contrast with our distance now, with this being another artwork within our own space of contemporary viewing. It does speak volumes about how our perception changes as generations come and go. Curator: It is fascinating how the work allows these images to function on micro and macro levels of analysis. Thanks for that compelling observation. Editor: My pleasure. A dark glimpse, yes, but one sparking important dialogue between our collective past and present.