Albumdoos 1906

Geldolph Adriaan Kessler made this album box, probably to keep photographs or precious mementos, but I wonder, what kind of feelings are wrapped up in it? I try to imagine the impulse. You’ve got all these bits of life—pictures, letters, pressed flowers—and you need a place to put them. So, Kessler fashioned this album box, a protective container for memories. And the funny thing is, the box itself becomes a kind of memory, doesn’t it? I wonder about the specific shade of brown, and how it must have looked when it was newer. What was Kessler thinking as he was building it? Did he think it would end up here, in the museum? Did he worry about preserving his own memories? Every object is a record of a moment, a gesture, a feeling. And maybe that’s what connects all artists across time – this desire to hold onto something, to make it real, and to share it with others.