Jan en Go Kessler op de spoorlijn tussen Wenen en Dresden, bij Děčín c. 1910

Curator: Hermann Johannes Kessler, also known as Boelie, created this gelatin-silver print around 1910. The piece, titled "Jan en Go Kessler op de spoorlijn tussen Wenen en Dresden, bij Děčín," captures his relatives on a railway. My interest is drawn to the way the process mirrors the industrialization of the time; the chemistry involved mimics the rapid changes happening around him. Editor: Ah, it's hauntingly beautiful! Like a ghostly invitation, framed by heavy stone. The long tracks are kind of mesmerizing, guiding my eye into this dark tunnel. Are those figures at the end, or is it my imagination? Curator: That would be Jan and Go, Kessler's relatives. Given Pictorialism's soft focus and manipulation, typical of photographs aspiring to be art in the early 20th century, they nearly disappear! However, their existence emphasizes labor's link to progress—consider gelatin's industrial production itself. The layered chemistry applied by hand, reveals intentions that commercial prints usually hide. Editor: Exactly! It feels like a dream, that touch. You get a sense of journey, not just physically by train, but mentally. I wonder if those blurs know what adventures are awaiting. Does it have something of death? Curator: It definitely acknowledges mortality and speed. Railway constructions reshape the world through human involvement. The sharp industrial geometry merging with an earthy terrain and light...it marks how industrialization changed old power dynamics, as seen via landscape photography then. Editor: The contrast really resonates, nature is conquered. Thinking of my train trips. Where were we going? What sort of anxieties would await? Were things that simple back then? So evocative. Curator: Yes, nostalgia can come in if that's how you look at gelatin-silver process photos and think about production circumstances which in this case are rooted within specific changes from our relationship both environmentally but structurally speaking: railway/industrial growth versus decline. Editor: Very true! Considering what we saw reveals layers. This tiny square tells so many bigger tales – that I couldn’t begin knowing by my own intuition. Curator: Well observed - each adds depth enriching our appreciation further from diverse perspectives connecting labor & art more intricately as the railways did societies too.