Soldaten met dienstpersoneel c. 1949 - 1950

This collection of black and white photographs pasted onto board, entitled 'Soldaten met dienstpersoneel,' is by an anonymous artist, its date unknown. Look at the way these images sit together, the brown of the board contrasting with the monochrome prints. It feels casual, spontaneous, but also deliberate. What was the artist thinking as they arranged them? What story were they trying to tell? Each image is a moment frozen in time, but it’s the careful arrangement that brings them into conversation with one another. I'm reminded of collages by Jess, or the photo-based work of someone like John Baldessari. They, too, understood the power of juxtaposition, how meaning can shift and change depending on what images are placed next to each other. These works exist in an ongoing dialogue, an exchange of ideas across time.