Twee fotoreproducties van gravures van scenes uit Auld Lang Syne, naar schilderijen door Sir George Harvey before 1870

Curator: These images are actually two photographic reproductions of engravings. They are of scenes inspired by "Auld Lang Syne," based on paintings by Sir George Harvey. And the photographs were taken by Thomas Annan sometime before 1870. Editor: Wow, they immediately evoke this profound sense of nostalgia, a gentle ache for times gone by. The crisp, almost clinical detail achieved through the engraving process emphasizes that distance, like peering into a memory viewed through glass. Curator: Indeed, Annan has captured more than just Harvey's compositions. You feel that weight of longing typical in Romanticism with those evocative landscape scenes. Do you sense how much significance is embedded within what otherwise may appear as a simple pastoral landscape? Editor: Absolutely, and I am getting so much by those postures in the figures: lounging, relaxed… almost a bit too perfectly staged in that bucolic scene up top. It reinforces the idealization, a yearning for a perhaps unattainable simplicity in their lives and community, so close to nature. Curator: The upper scene particularly is very dynamic. The artist makes effective use of an almost sweeping composition. And this dream is juxtaposed in the lower scene to something else, an empty loneliness. Editor: Precisely, look how desolate the lower scene feels with that lonely figure against the stark landscape! Even though these images originated as engravings before being photographed, the repetition, especially in printed series, creates an enduring motif. "Auld Lang Syne" isn't merely a song; it is now embedded in our cultural consciousness. Curator: A fascinating glimpse into how a single cultural touchstone becomes so visually echoed, rippling across media and generations. These images remind us that photography doesn't just record but actively interprets, shaping our collective memory. Editor: Absolutely. Reflecting on Annan’s prints makes you feel a little lighter, as though memory and time, with their soft edges, may eventually release their heavy weight on us all.