Compositie van veertien foto's van onderwijs en onderzoek aan de Keizerlijke Militair-Medische Academie, gecombineerd met medische instrumenten en voorwerpen ter decoratie 1913

This is a photomontage of fourteen photos of teaching and research at the Imperial Military Medical Academy, combined with medical instruments, by V. Sabel’skij. Look at this overall sepia tone! What’s fascinating to me is how the artist combined these images—it’s like he's building a world. Each photo is a fragment, yet together they form a whole that's more than the sum of its parts. The texture is created through the layers of photographs, the slight imperfections of the printing process, and the juxtaposition of images of interiors, portraits, and medical instruments. It’s interesting, isn't it, how the artist places surgical tools right below the portraits of military officials? It gives the piece a very eerie quality. All these visual echoes and dissonances! It reminds me a bit of Hannah Höch's collages. Both artists play with the cut-and-paste aesthetic to reveal the hidden structures of power and knowledge within society. The photomontage is a constant reminder that things aren’t always what they seem, and art isn't about fixed meanings, but about endless possibilities.