Straatgezicht met rijtuigen 1909

Curator: This is Geldolph Adriaan Kessler's "Straatgezicht met rijtuigen" from 1909, a gelatin-silver print residing here at the Rijksmuseum. What's your initial read on it? Editor: Bleak, utterly bleak! It's the photographic equivalent of a wet Monday morning. That oppressive sky really sets the tone. Curator: It's interesting you say that. Kessler, who moved from a traditional commerce background, seemed determined to explore light and atmosphere in ways previously unseen. Notice how the pictorialist style softens everything, creating a dreamlike quality. Editor: I see what you mean. It is less about crisp detail and more about mood, but those harsh vertical telephone poles contrast a little. They don’t melt into the soft haze. There's an interesting tension. Curator: Exactly. The eye is led into the scene by the strong diagonals of the muddy street. There are carriages, people milling about… but all captured through a lens favoring tonal range over sharp focus. Kessler here plays with Realism, yet pulls it back through pictorialism. Editor: Those carriages, slightly out of focus, almost feel like ghosts of another time. The composition has a strange static quality, as if time itself is sluggish that day. It captures a mood; even now you get the smells! Curator: Indeed, the gelatin silver print, at that time relatively new, enabled this specific textural depth. Do you think that contributes to the scene feeling so lived-in and immediate despite its distance from us in years? Editor: Absolutely. The materiality adds an authenticity no crisp, digital image could ever achieve. It evokes a past reality but its softened form provides just enough haze for our own projections. Kessler's blending style here provides a fascinating portal! Curator: So true, it is an ethereal snapshot where he captures a mundane moment and invites reflection on the transient nature of daily life. Editor: The magic trick, really. Making art out of the ordinary—gloomy skies and all!