Poort aan de zuidzijde van het Koninklijk Weeshuis te Buren 1890 - 1920

This photo of the south gate of the Royal Orphanage in Buren, was taken by an anonymous photographer. The sepia tone of the image flattens the texture of the wall into a smooth, almost velvety surface, and you only see the depth of the wall in the shadows around the arch. The image is built from simple shapes - rectangles, triangles, arches. You can almost imagine drawing it in one go with a thick crayon. See how the arch of the doorway is framed by the rectangular blocks of stone and then how the whole thing is topped by that triangle - like a child's drawing of a house. The lack of a signature or any identifying mark on the image makes me think about the collaborative nature of artmaking. Even if we don’t know who took this photo, or when, it becomes part of a broader conversation about art, architecture, and history. I think of Bernd and Hilla Becher, who documented industrial architecture in a similar way, embracing repetition and anonymity as part of their practice.