Vijf mannen in uniform zittend tegen een muur, met Johannes van Zijll de Jong als tweede van rechts 1930 - 1935

This photograph, of five men in uniform sitting against a wall, was taken at an unknown date by an anonymous photographer. The image is monochrome, all tones of grey, lending a certain moodiness to the piece, and the composition is formally quite simple. The men are arranged horizontally, parallel with the picture plane, almost like brushstrokes of varying tone. The artist’s process is concealed. We don’t see the hand of the artist, only the mechanical eye of the camera. But there is an artistic gesture here, in the way the photograph is cropped into an oval, softening the image and focusing attention on the subjects’ faces. Look at the second figure from the right. Note his drooped posture, and the casual air of his clothing. This pose makes him stand out from the group, and draws our eye. It feels very contemporary, like a Nan Goldin photograph, and serves as a reminder that the artistic impulse is consistent through time, even when the tools change.