Kinderen in een berg gemaaid gras in de tuin van Landgoed De Paauw c. 1913

Curator: The Rijksmuseum is delighted to present "Children in a Mountain of Mown Grass in the Garden of Landgoed De Paauw," a photographic print circa 1913 by Geldolph Adriaan Kessler. Editor: My initial impression is one of stark formality juxtaposed with unbridled joy. The composition divides neatly; an imposing manor, precisely framed, forms a backdrop to the chaotic exuberance of children playing in a hay pile. Curator: Precisely. The very act of placing these children, embodiments of unruliness and temporality, against the rigid architecture establishes a dichotomy. Kessler seems keen to express through this formal composition, the contrast between constructed, maintained order and the fleeting vitality of youth. Editor: Consider the symbolism embedded within. The mown grass—hay— represents not just a pastoral idyll but also the harvest, the end of a cycle. Placed alongside images of children—life at its peak—the picture takes on a layered meaning of passing time. Curator: Observe the tonal gradation, as well; the stark whites of the building receding into deep shadow; a complex distribution, given the purported realism. The light’s behaviour almost creates a pattern to give life to what would be an everyday moment captured on the camera’s objective gaze. Editor: Absolutely. It invites contemplation on the transience of experience itself. It whispers of legacy, ancestry—an aristocratic home standing as a stoic observer of time. These symbols—children and harvested grasses— are, perhaps, intentionally crafted within this study. Curator: How interesting. By reducing these elements to the barest components in this very specific style, this photograph allows us a privileged, perhaps profound, understanding of photographic possibilities. Editor: It invites us to question. Are these merely happy children or something more profound being immortalised by the lens of Kessler? This photo's power, it seems, lies in its complex visual vocabulary, an exploration of past, present, future rendered beautifully stark by form.