Huizenrij c. 1945 - 1946

Curator: Here we have "Huizenrij", a photograph created around 1945-1946 by Anefo, currently held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum. Editor: It has a haunting, repetitive quality. The way those identical houses recede into the distance under that oppressive sky… it feels almost dystopian. Curator: Indeed. These houses, rendered in stark monochrome, evoke a very specific feeling. Consider that this image was captured so close to the end of the Second World War. The image possesses a sort of “emptiness”, of human absence but there’s a power line visible which may imply reconstruction is in progress. Editor: And that’s crucial. I'm looking at the compositional choices – the receding line of houses, the dirt road occupying nearly half the frame. It creates this insistent vanishing point, doesn't it? Almost as if the houses represent memories fading over time. Curator: The linear perspective is key. But beyond the formal structure, it speaks to shared experience and identity of people at the time. Look closely and you can make out that one of the house has a shadow reflected into it and a certain form of plant is starting to appear in that vicinity and implies “new” growth may be forming. Editor: That's an intriguing detail. While I appreciate the cultural implications, I find the repeated gabled roofs equally suggestive, reflecting like an echo. What do you make of the near symmetry of the building in relationship to the sky and it being bisected by a large and erect, almost obelisk type, pylon in front? Curator: The power line that's dissecting everything feels like an intentional element too – a powerful symbol of hope that also feels somewhat invasive cutting into that sky. It brings me back to those ideas of memory versus a newly designed community… Editor: Very true. So much concentrated in its realism through photographic style in monochrome, which is, in itself, quite moving. Curator: Looking closely reminds us of both the end of a dark chapter but potential beginnings. Editor: I concur. A remarkable blend of realism, capturing not just a cityscape, but the atmosphere of an entire era using line and architectural geometry.