Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant Possibly 1940

This is the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant newspaper, printed on Tuesday, December 31, 1940. Just imagine the editor laying out the pages, making choices about where to place images and text, and using the visual language of typography to catch your eye. I can imagine the news editor, head in hands, trying to decide what to put on the front page of the paper, perhaps thinking about how it would impact the community. The gray ink flattens everything, emphasizing the structure and design; the columns of text become a kind of sculpture. The eye is drawn to the images, portraits of individuals and construction, these anchor the page, giving it weight and focus. I can feel the texture of the paper, a cheap substrate for something so urgent, so fleeting. The artist Robert Rauschenberg, known for incorporating everyday materials into his art, was drawn to newspapers as a visual source. Like Rauschenberg, I feel a sense of nostalgia for a time gone by. Artists are magpies, borrowing and stealing ideas, remixing the culture of the moment. Ultimately, this newspaper is more than just a means of communication. It is a time capsule of ideas, hopes, and anxieties from a pivotal moment in history.