Gezicht op de Dam te Amsterdam tijdens werkzaamheden voor de verruiming van de Dam 1916

Here's a photograph by Barend W. Arendsen, that captures a specific moment of urban transformation in Amsterdam. Arendsen, holding his camera, standing maybe on a ladder, or the back of a truck, composing the shot that shows the Dam Square in the midst of construction. It's as if he’s trying to hold onto the past while the future is literally being built around him. Look at the sepia tones. The earth is dug up, and there is a skeletal structure of a new building rising, still not complete. I can almost hear the sounds of hammers and the shouts of workers. I wonder, what was Arendsen thinking as he framed this shot? Was he aware that his photograph would become a historical record, a study of a city in flux? It reminds me of the work of other painters who have explored urban landscapes. Artists are constantly in dialogue.