Landschap in Nederland 1913 - 1930

Curator: Theodoor Brouwers' "Landschap in Nederland," a gelatin silver print likely created between 1913 and 1930. What leaps out at you? Editor: The stillness, definitely. The grainy texture almost mutes the landscape, like a memory fading around the edges. Curator: It is an evocative piece. Pictorialism often aimed to imbue photographs with an emotional resonance akin to paintings, so Brouwers likely manipulated the printing process to soften details and heighten that atmospheric mood. Editor: Interesting, because looking at the material, gelatin silver, I'm immediately thinking about the industrial process required to make photographic materials available at that time, and how that connected to a specific culture of landscape appreciation that was developing. What did the commodification of these landscapes mean? Curator: Perhaps a longing for a pastoral ideal amid increasing industrialization. It certainly presents an idealized vision of nature. Look at the gentle slope of the land, the almost ghostly trees... there’s a sense of quietude that's hard to come by in a city. Editor: I think so much can be found looking at the technology, silver mining, factory labor required to sensitize film... Brouwers is implicated in global capitalist flows. This photo itself as a kind of trade commodity. Curator: It's certainly more complex than a simple postcard. His work offers, maybe even performs, a certain detachment from labor. To him, it may be more of the spirit of the place, a response to the land... I am caught by the light. Editor: True enough. Thinking about this work in those various contexts offers ways of making sense of landscapes in the 20th century. I’ll be pondering this image long after we leave this room. Curator: Exactly. It resonates long after, which means we are looking into something rather human here.