Collage met 23 portretten van Siciliaanse bandieten 1878 - 1880

This anonymous collage presents twenty-three portraits of Sicilian bandits. The composition is immediately striking: a dark background dramatically sets off the array of sepia-toned photographs. These aren’t casually arranged, instead they are carefully positioned in an almost fan-like semi-circle, creating a structured yet dynamic visual field. The arrangement presents a fascinating play between order and chaos, a visual tension that mirrors the ambiguous status of these figures as both outlaws and, perhaps, folk heroes. What strikes me most is how the collage operates as a kind of proto-Warholian grid, prefiguring later Pop Art explorations of seriality and the commodification of the image. The uniformity of the photographs, combined with their calculated arrangement, forces us to consider the power of the gaze and the act of categorization. It also asks us to consider what these men represent and to decode the cultural signs of power and resistance embedded in the photograph itself.