Isabel Wachenheimer eet een koekje in de woning van de familie Wachenheimer in Stuttgart, 1931-1937 1931 - 1937

Sometime between 1931 and 1937, somewhere in Stuttgart, a photograph was captured by an anonymous artist. It shows Isabel Wachenheimer eating a cookie. I love to imagine the scene: the formal dining table with its decorative tablecloth, the net curtains, the little girl neatly presented, the carefully chosen moment to take a photograph. What was it like to live back then, and why did the artist think that this scene was important enough to document? When I look at this photograph, I immediately think about the work of other artists. The formal portraits by Holbein or Van Dyke, the paintings of children by Alice Neel and Mary Cassatt, and the early photographs of children by artists like Sally Mann. All these artists reflect on childhood, on the moment of becoming an adult, and of our place within the family. Artists have always looked at each other's work. Every artwork is a continuation of a dialogue between artists across time, a game of call and response, echoing one another’s creativity. And just like this artwork, they invite us to reflect on the everyday, on the things that we might otherwise have taken for granted.