Pastorie Postnoord te Amsterdam 1853 - 1917

This print by Johannes Georg Jacobus van Arum depicts the Pastorie Postnoord in Amsterdam. It’s rendered with a stark, linear quality that emphasizes the building's structural elements. The printmaking process itself— likely etching or engraving— mirrors the meticulous labor involved in bricklaying. Each line carefully placed, evokes the repetitive, skilled actions required to construct the building, brick by brick. The materiality here is fascinating, because you have two layers of making: the actual building, which would have involved many hands and various crafts, and then the rendering of it on paper. The graphic nature of the print brings out qualities in the brickwork that we might otherwise miss: the geometric pattern, and the density of construction. Prints like these were important for architects, but also for developers. They allowed for the standardization of building practices, showing how design could be replicated across a city and beyond. So even in a seemingly straightforward image, we see the forces of production at play.