Spelende kinderen in een straat c. 1890 - 1988

George Hendrik Breitner made this photograph of children playing in a street, using of course, a camera, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It’s a grainy, tonal image, and you can see how the artist has played with light and shadow to create depth and atmosphere. This is not a casual snapshot, but a carefully considered composition, and I think this is revealed in the range of greys he’s captured. Look at the surface of the photograph. It’s got this almost velvety texture, and the way the light catches it makes the whole scene feel so alive. The artist has focused the image on the children and allowed everything else to blur into the background, even a little around the edges, which puts all the emphasis on them. It's an interesting contrast of sharpness and softness, right? The way that some areas are sharply defined, while others dissolve into a hazy blur. It makes me think of Eugène Atget, who roamed the streets of Paris documenting its architecture and daily life. Like Atget, Breitner seems to be interested in capturing a sense of a specific time and place, a moment in the life of the city.