Terras en familie 1941 - 1942

Curator: This is an intriguing gelatin silver print titled "Terras en familie," made sometime between 1941 and 1942. Editor: It's an album page with snapshots of a family, almost like a deconstructed family portrait. The contrast feels really stark. What strikes you about it? Curator: The initial thing I note is the formal arrangement of images against the backdrop. Notice how each image, while seemingly casual, is deliberately placed on the grey page. This arrangement is very conscious. We have different points of focus which don’t sit parallel with the album. What effect do you believe that choice might have on how we see it? Editor: It makes me consider each photograph individually, like separate pieces of a puzzle, but also as contributing to a larger, though disjointed, picture of family life. Curator: Precisely. Note the texture of the photo paper and its muted tones – very typical of gelatin silver prints. There’s a distinct interplay of light and shadow that defines each figure and space. Do you find anything curious with its grayscale qualities? Editor: Well, I wonder if the absence of color flattens the images. The formal wear and the domestic setting feel almost timeless, stripped of specific historical markers. Curator: An interesting observation. It detaches from the real, but creates an intimate scene with subtle formal queues: observe the composition of each shot. There’s a considered perspective in all of them – perhaps they represent different family dynamics within this environment. How do the formal qualities – tone, contrast, and the composition – communicate the idea of 'family' to you? Editor: That it's not always perfectly posed or polished; that family exists in fragments, in moments captured and then curated. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. It's in studying these formal elements that we unlock new meanings and come to new understandings.