Echtpaar Berti Hoppe en Herman Besselaar met de hond in Plaswijck Possibly 1938 - 1939

This is a photograph, presumably from the 1930s, by Herman Besselaar, called Echtpaar Berti Hoppe en Herman Besselaar met de hond in Plaswijck. It’s a black and white image, and I see it as less of a single artwork than as documentation. It’s also a collection of images. I’m drawn to the top right picture where a dog is interacting with a person. This feels like an intimate moment. The image is grainy, and the shapes feel soft and yielding. It makes me think about how memory works. The arrangement and style of the photographs is a kind of precursor to Instagram; here are images that are documenting life, and the artist is presenting themselves in relationship to this life. It reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter’s “Atlas” project where images are gathered and presented in a particular way, with the understanding that our memories and experiences are always fragmented. This gives me the sense of a personal narrative.