Pemberton Apartments tijdens de wereldtentoonstelling in St. Louis (Louisiana Purchase Exposition), 1904 1904

This gelatin silver print, by Jan Schüller, shows the Pemberton Apartments during the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. What strikes me most is the image's surface. It's uneven, covered in what looks like foxing, those little spots that develop on old photographs, like constellations of age. These marks, these accidents, become part of the picture. In many ways the marks on the image remind me of the work of artists like Vija Celmins. She is an artist who is interested in the way that art and imagery accumulate and change over time. While seemingly a simple image, it carries the weight of history, the touch of time, and the strange beauty of imperfection. This photograph isn't just a record; it's an object with its own story.