Henriëtte Wassink met haar dochters Dootje en Wilhelmina van Zijll de Jong voor het huis aan de Frederik Hendriklaan 52, Den Haag 1930 - 1935

This black and white photograph captures Henriëtte Wassink with her daughters in front of their home at Frederik Hendriklaan 52, The Hague, by an anonymous artist. The artist makes interesting decisions of what to include in the frame, and what to leave out. We can see how the house dwarfs the people, an interesting formal choice. The surface has that slightly faded, matte quality characteristic of older photographs. If you look closely, you can see the grainy texture, almost like a pointillist painting. This grainy effect adds a layer of abstraction to the otherwise straightforward subject matter. It reminds me a bit of some of Eugène Atget’s photographs of Paris. Atget was interested in documenting the city, but he also captured a certain mood, a sense of melancholy. In a similar way, this photograph is not just a record of a family and their house, but an evocation of a time and a place. It highlights that art can be found in the everyday, in the simple act of looking.