Minister-president Drees spreekt met de voormalig Republikeinse premier Sutan Sjahrir Possibly 1948 - 1949

This photograph, Minister-president Drees spreekt met de voormalig Republikeinse premier Sutan Sjahrir, in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, probably made with a large format camera, captures a moment between politicians. The tones are nicely graded, from light to dark, with the contrast giving a snap to the image, especially in the dark wood of the furniture. The three men are captured in a comfortable domestic interior, but it is the material qualities of the photographic print which invite an intimate engagement with the scene. Look closely at the grain of the print, it is most visible in the mid-tones of the image and it is this which anchors the image in its historical moment. Think of the photographs of Gerhard Richter, how he would rework found photographs, blowing them up so that the grain of the image becomes an abstract field. Photography, like painting, is never truly objective, it’s always mediated by the hand and eye of the artist.