Groepsportret van studenten met bierpullen en kaarsen Possibly 1907 - 1911

This is a silver gelatin print by Joël de Lange, who lived from 1871 to 1942. It’s a group portrait of students with beer mugs and candles. It has all the atmosphere of a painting! I can imagine De Lange in the dark room, coaxing the image into being, adjusting the light and chemicals to capture the mood just so. Photography is all about light, and the light in this photograph is working overtime. The candles are like stars, little pinpricks of hope in the gloom. Each face emerges, individual and part of a whole. The way they are seated—some on chairs, others standing—creates depth and shadow. This isn’t just a snapshot; it’s a carefully constructed scene, like the figures in a Rembrandt group portrait, but with beer. You can almost smell the beer, sweat, and wax. It’s really something! I wonder what they were talking about that night. Probably stuff that seemed important at the time but doesn’t matter now. Still, they were making memories together, and now we get to look at them all these years later.