Ruïnes van het Oude Beursgebouw te Rotterdam c. 1940 - 1945

Editor: This photograph by J. Nolte, a gelatin silver print titled 'Ruines van het Oude Beursgebouw te Rotterdam' - Ruins of the Old Stock Exchange in Rotterdam - captures a moment between 1940 and 1945. It's a stark and somber image. All that's left of this grand building is its skeleton. What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: It’s the silence, isn’t it? Even in a photograph, you can hear the absence. That skeleton, you called it - it’s reaching, still, towards a sky that perhaps betrayed it. Look at the delicate tracery of the remaining structure against the heavy rubble. It's a testament to resilience, maybe even stubbornness. It refuses to completely surrender to gravity or oblivion. It asks you, silently, what we build, and what we rebuild. Does it evoke a memory for you? Editor: It definitely makes you think about the impact of war, and what's lost. All those lives changed and the architectural destruction - it's incredibly sad. Were gelatin silver prints typically used for documenting devastation? Curator: Photography, especially the relative immediacy of gelatin silver prints, became a crucial tool for recording and disseminating images of conflict and its aftermath. But here, I don’t see it as mere documentation. Notice the light? Nolte is not simply recording facts. They are feeling, framing – there’s a painterly eye at play here, transforming devastation into something hauntingly beautiful. Look at how the light catches the edges, the delicate gradations of grey. Editor: I see what you mean. It is beautiful, even though it's depicting something terrible. I never thought of destruction as beautiful, but Nolte’s image somehow finds it. Thank you for helping me see this picture in a new light, both literally and figuratively. Curator: My pleasure. And remember, sometimes the greatest art comes from looking unflinchingly at the darkest corners. Perhaps it's in those dark corners that we find glimmers of something... more.