Fotoalbum met foto's van het woonhuis van de familie Van den Berg aan de Keizersgracht en van Amsterdam door Frank Willem van den Berg 1931 - 1934

Curator: Right, let’s discuss this object. It’s a photo album by Frank Willem van den Berg, dating from 1931 to 1934. It’s titled 'Fotoalbum met foto's van het woonhuis van de familie Van den Berg aan de Keizersgracht en van Amsterdam'. The medium is listed as albumen print, alongside print, collage and photography. Editor: Ah, it’s rather somber looking. That distressed dark leather makes me think of hushed rooms and stories held within. It feels like a sturdy keeper of memories. Curator: Indeed. We have to remember this isn't simply a container. It’s an object crafted during a specific historical and social moment. The materials themselves speak to that: the type of leather, the albumen printing process, even the string used to bind it reflect the available technologies and economic realities of the time. These albums weren't cheap to produce, suggesting a certain social standing. Editor: That leather, though—it just feels so wonderfully tactile. You can almost imagine running your fingers over it. Did the texture mimic crocodile skin? The labor, though…who tanned this leather, who developed these prints? Curator: Precisely! The production process involved numerous unseen laborers. It prompts us to consider the lives and hands involved in the creation of this seemingly personal object, outside of just the named artist. Even in documenting a wealthy family and cityscapes, it speaks to a larger economy and social order. And don't forget the use of collage – how were these albums distributed or perhaps shown in exhibits? It starts blurring the line between 'private' album and something crafted for potential public viewing. Editor: That hint of possible viewership definitely casts a new light, now that you mention it. Albums are deeply personal things. Thinking about its possible social function alters our perception, as does the craftsmanship that goes into the albumen prints that really evokes that interwar era… Curator: The physical act of collaging, the assembly of different printed media also suggests how media circulated in the household. This photo album gives access into both an aesthetic register, but also a record of everyday life through image. Editor: All this talk about material and production gives even an aged book like this a living feeling! Curator: Precisely. Thinking through production allows a re-imagining of material objects and artistic process as entangled socio-economic relations, reminding us there's so much more than a simple image at work. Editor: That definitely changes the narrative. From a nostalgic album to something actively engaging with the fabric of society! I appreciate that expanded view of art.