Huis in Amersfoort 1905

Editor: So, this is "Huis in Amersfoort," a photograph by Henri Bickhoff from 1905. It gives me such a quiet feeling, like stepping back in time. It’s incredibly detailed for what looks like a very unassuming building. What’s your take on it? Curator: This image speaks volumes about the shifting role of photography at the turn of the century. Bickhoff positions what seems to be an ordinary house as an object of artistic study. Realism was taking root but photographers like Bickhoff wanted their work viewed as art. It also appears to use Pictorialism, which involved using photography in a way to look painterly. Editor: Painterly? It’s a photograph, though. Curator: Exactly. Think about the institutions around art at the time, the established hierarchy. Photography was often seen as a technical process, not art. So photographers started to manipulate their prints to resemble paintings, both in terms of focus, tone, and even physical texture. Why do you think they wanted it to appear like paintings instead of focusing on its own attributes? Editor: I guess they wanted to be taken seriously by the established art world. Were they successful? Curator: Eventually, yes. But it was a long struggle. This image becomes a document of that struggle, of photography asserting its artistic potential in a world that valued painting above all else. It is also documenting what "home" looked like during a period of major shifts in urbanization. It is both ordinary and complex. Editor: That makes so much sense! I was only seeing a building, but now I see a whole cultural conversation. Curator: And that’s the beauty of art history!