Optocht NSB 1936 - 1937

Curator: This anonymous gelatin silver print, taken sometime between 1936 and 1937, captures an NSB parade. What are your immediate thoughts looking at this, here in the Rijksmuseum? Editor: The blur… everyone seems in a frantic rush, even in this still image. There's an unsettling energy that’s difficult to shake off, a sense of urgency that seems both performative and truly felt. Like they’re chasing something, or perhaps being chased. Curator: That tension you describe definitely resonates. I mean, context is everything, right? This is a parade by the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging, the Dutch National Socialist Movement, during a really volatile period in Europe. The rise of fascism casts a long, dark shadow over the photograph. Editor: Precisely. The photo, in its composition, unintentionally reflects the problematic nature of group identity and ideological conformity. I’m particularly struck by the rows of men in uniform – their visual unity, achieved at the cost of individuality. Curator: They become a symbol more than individuals, certainly. Do you find anything formally interesting in the picture making beyond the socio-historical implications? Editor: Definitely. The grainy texture adds a layer of almost painful realism. The harsh contrasts contribute to the starkness. It’s not trying to pretty things up, is it? The photograph serves as a powerful documentary tool, unflinching and, honestly, disturbing. And that blurring suggests movement but also uncertainty—or an intentional obscuring of individual identity? Curator: Obscuring seems apt. The marchers are faceless within the mass movement, right? Each swallowed by the collective cause... Still, seeing a slice of daily life—though of course loaded with history—grounds us. I guess what I keep turning over in my head is that any person could, under particular circumstances, wind up in a picture like this. Editor: It is chilling to contemplate, isn't it? We have to see the individual stories woven into these events, or we miss how easily such movements gain traction. Art like this compels that investigation, hopefully sparking more compassionate and nuanced responses today. Curator: Hopefully. So next time we look, maybe instead of seeing a mass of anonymous faces we try to remember those individuals, or the possibility of them. That is the picture’s uncomfortable echo.