Gezicht op een met planten versierde gang bij de drukkerij Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé, ter ere van het bezoek van Koningin Wilhelmina en koningin-regentes Emma c. 1892 - 1899

Editor: This gelatin-silver print, dating from around 1892 to 1899, captures a plant-adorned corridor at the Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé printing house, seemingly in celebration of Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Regent Emma’s visit. It has such a staged, celebratory mood. What draws your attention in this image? Curator: What strikes me is the image's engagement with the very means of its production, in terms of both the company's activity and its historical situation. Look at the photograph as a document of labor. Consider what a large operation the Koninklijke Joh. Enschedé was. Beyond just a place for production, this decorated corridor acts as a staged setting – a performance space really. The choice of organic materials is important. Editor: What do you mean? Curator: Well, what materials do you notice and where? Are these materials purely decorative, or do they echo the printmaker's labour somehow? What does it say about Enschedé as a powerful organisation during a time of vast technological change, to celebrate it with plant life instead of say, its machines? Editor: I see. The natural elements are everywhere – growing above, and beneath our feet, like an inside garden—a constructed “natural” experience! It suggests that the factory can incorporate organic things with technology. Is this why the photographer made such an elaborate setting to create this picture of that occasion? Curator: It does present the printer's brand identity as industrious and forward-thinking. They aren’t fighting the trend; they're actively consuming and re-presenting these motifs. What are your thoughts on this in conclusion? Editor: I think understanding the materials – not just the photographic materials, but the organic materials used in the celebration, really opens up the possible motivations and intent behind the picture.