Oorlogsschade Possibly 1940 - 1946

Curator: Sobering, isn’t it? This collection of collotypes titled “Oorlogsschade,” meaning War Damage, was created anonymously sometime between 1940 and 1946. Editor: Utterly. I’m immediately struck by the sparseness, the almost monochrome palette. Each small image, a desolate echo… a whisper of what was. Curator: Indeed. The process of collotype printing—using a glass plate coated with light-sensitive gelatin—lends these images a distinctive tonal range. The way the gelatin hardens unevenly creates a subtle texture that's integral to the look and feel here. This aged paper also plays its part. Editor: Texture as testament, perhaps. I’m drawn to how this neutral brown palette emphasizes absence. Buildings as skeletal remains... They become these hollowed-out eyes, staring blankly. You know? And yet, they stand defiantly! Or what’s left of them anyway. It is a testament to how photography makes us consider temporality, and it speaks to something really visceral about the damage left by the war. Curator: Absolutely, and by printing these in collotype— a printing process known for its fine detail and continuous tones — these were meant to circulate, they were created to act as documents or souvenirs perhaps. We also can not overlook how the lack of an identified artist further speaks to it, doesn't it? Highlighting it's a product of its own particular war period instead. Editor: Good point. It reminds me of walking through battlefields, or visiting ancient ruins – this poignant silence… How art preserves things we never would like to witness again… These almost dreamlike snapshots invite introspection—asking the question "how do we move from ashes towards something else entirely?". Curator: Ultimately, examining works such as these calls on us to remember and grapple with how the past continues to echo through our present, what the work implies given the artist has gone unidentified all these years. Editor: Well said. Leaving the question of resilience against destruction floating through one’s conscience… It gives me chills, doesn't it give you chills?