Compositie van veertien foto's van personen en onderwijs aan de Keizerlijke Militair-Medische Academie, gecombineerd met decoratie van medische instrumenten 1913

This is a collage made of fourteen photographs of people and medical equipment at the Imperial Military Medical Academy, created by V. Sabel'skij. What strikes me is the artist's approach to image-making. It’s a fascinating way to pull different images together in one space, creating a kind of visual poem. I wonder what Sabel'skij was thinking, what it was like to decide which pictures to place next to each other. I can imagine him shuffling photos around, figuring out where to put a portrait next to a classroom scene. Was there a push and pull between wanting things to be orderly versus just letting it all hang loose and seeing what happens? It reminds me a bit of Kurt Schwitters’ Merz collages. Artists throughout time have done similar things, riffing off each other, mixing and matching, and adding their own spin. What a cool conversation to be a part of!