Gezicht op het Forum Romanum, het Colosseum en twee straatgezichten nabij Rome 1936 - 1939

This is a series of photographic images of Rome in what looks like an album by Berti Hoppe. The images are black and white, grainy, and give a kind of melancholic feel. The top left image, a view of the Roman Forum, kind of pulls me in; there's a road cutting through the center, creating this sense of depth and history all at once. I love the way the light catches the edges of the ruins, almost as if the past is kind of shimmering. The surface of these photographs are matte; you can see the texture in the paper. It's all about the process of image-making and presentation, I think that the artist embraced the imperfections of the printing. Looking at this reminds me a little of some of the photo books by Ed Ruscha. There's a cool detachment, but also an attempt to record history in a very personal way. Ultimately, the image allows us to reflect on themes of memory, place, and the passage of time.