Naam en adres 1890 - 1946

This piece, titled "Naam en adres," or "Name and Address" in English, was created by Cornelis Vreedenburgh, though the medium and exact date elude us. At first glance, we see simply a name and location scrawled upon a piece of paper: J. Soetermeer, River N.Y. Yet, consider this piece of paper, as it appears to have been extracted from a notepad. Are we not reminded of the very concept of documentation? This act of recording a person's identity carries echoes of ancient civilizations, such as the Egyptians and their meticulous record-keeping, or the Roman census. These motifs of the address, the record, appear again and again throughout time. We see it evolve into more complex forms, like a painting or a photograph. Each iteration serves as a cultural touchstone, reminding us of the importance of memory, identity, and the enduring human need to capture and preserve our place in the world. The act of noting the address carries with it a weight of both the personal and the collective.