Afbraak van panden in Amsterdam c. 1890 - 1910

Editor: This is a photograph by George Hendrik Breitner, "Afbraak van panden in Amsterdam", taken sometime between 1890 and 1910. It depicts the demolition of buildings and the rawness is striking! What captures your attention in this piece? Curator: The devastation rendered here! This isn't simply a photograph; it's documentation of a societal shift. Breitner captured not only the physical deconstruction, but also the materials used - the specific bricks, the types of wood. It reveals the labour involved in both the construction and demolition. Editor: That's fascinating. I was drawn to the almost abstract composition. It seems to transcend just a record of demolition. Curator: Indeed. Consider the socio-economic context. Rapid industrialization and urbanization were reshaping Amsterdam. Who benefited from this demolition and what replaced these buildings? The photograph begs these questions through its depiction of destroyed materiality. Editor: So, you're suggesting the image critiques the transformation of Amsterdam and its effects on the working class? Curator: Precisely. It highlights the brutal materiality of progress, the cyclical process of building and destroying, and who pays the price for that progress. It exposes the very substance of that era’s political economy, how those economic changes affected laborers. This process is made literal in Breitner’s act of carefully observing and documenting. Editor: That’s a perspective I hadn’t considered. It's incredible how focusing on the materials and labour can reveal a whole other level of meaning! Curator: Exactly. It forces us to reconsider what we value, and whose labor is involved. The act of looking closely at those overlooked details gives them a new importance.