Gezicht op de Wagenbrug in Den Haag 1884 - 1928

Curator: This is Wilhelm Frederick Antonius Delboy’s "View of the Wagenbrug in The Hague," likely captured sometime between 1884 and 1928. The medium is listed as a print, or more precisely, photography. Editor: My first impression is one of muted elegance, like stepping back into a hushed, sepia-toned world. The bridge, the buildings—everything seems draped in a delicate filter. It's beautiful. Curator: Delboy’s engagement with pictorialism is evident here, particularly in the soft focus. He was very concerned with the social politics of visibility in urban spaces. One has to think about laboring class mobility in a society still reeling from industrialization. Editor: Indeed. Look closely, and you can almost feel the pulse of the city through its infrastructures and the modes of transportation present. It brings questions to my mind regarding the materials the bridge is constructed of, or the horses carriages' impact on those stones, in the sense of production and consumption. Curator: Absolutely, the material conditions structure that very experience, don't they? Considering that class disparity of movement, access to modes of transit becomes indicative of class in that society, a lens to explore power structures... Editor: I agree, class division, the accessibility and labor around modes of transit become indicators of class division and wealth. And the angle where the photographer captured the image speaks of their own accessibility. Curator: It also points to the fact of the labor that comes from transit; that horse wasn't just there... it was an act to engage with photography. Editor: These early examples of street photography document that. The way Delboy captured a precise historical context, of materials and labor but moreover, its implications! Curator: And in that light we perceive the present very differently. Thank you for engaging with those important facets of the work. Editor: My pleasure! Examining its composition and societal impact has truly enriched my understanding of what appears at first glance to be a rather serene streetscape.