Algemeen Handelsblad Possibly 1941 - 1946

This copy of Algemeen Handelsblad was printed on Monday, June 23, 1941, probably with ink on newsprint. The layout is striking - I find myself drawn to how information is presented and organised, how the eye is led through the page, from headline to photograph, to map, to smaller advertisements. You could almost imagine the page as an abstract composition, or at least a found object, like something Kurt Schwitters might have incorporated into a collage - though it's perhaps a little too ordered and rigid for that. There's a material presence to it, a feeling of touch, of the hands that would have typeset it, handled it, folded it, passed it on. Look at the photograph of soldiers, how the image is cropped. I’m wondering how its presence on the page changes our understanding of the text that surrounds it. In a way, this newspaper reminds me of some of the collage work of someone like Peter Kennard or even Gerhard Richter, who also explore political themes. It’s a constant dialogue, isn’t it, this artmaking thing? A conversation across time. Ultimately, this is a piece that embraces ambiguity, inviting multiple interpretations.