Dimensions: height 88 mm, width 178 mm
Copyright: Rijks Museum: Open Domain
This stereo image shows the transport of a balloon during Lord Roberts’ advance on Johannesburg. Its anonymous maker created it with an eye for capturing both documentary detail and a sense of epic scale. The sepia tones give the scene a muted, dreamlike quality. The texture of the image is fascinating; the balloon's surface is meticulously rendered, with each panel of fabric painstakingly delineated, while the landscape blurs into abstraction, emphasizing the journey and its hardships. The balloon itself dominates the composition, its round form contrasting with the linear progression of the ox-drawn carts below. This contrast between the geometric shape of the balloon and the organic forms of the animals is mirrored in the tension between technology and nature, or between the individual and the crowd. That such a delicate object was key to a war effort speaks to our never ending quest for innovation through art and war. Thinking about an artist like Gerhard Richter, and his use of photography and blurring to explore memory and trauma, I wonder what the unknown artist of this image was trying to convey with the sepia tones and detailed imagery.
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