Exterieur van een pand op de markt te Assen 1871

The Gebroeders Sanders, or Sanders Brothers, made this photographic print of a building in Assen in 1871. It's a modest object, but it contains worlds. The print is made using the albumen process, where paper is coated with egg white and silver nitrate. This painstaking preparation, involving careful mixing and coating, was necessary to capture the scene with clarity. Look closely and you will see the result of human labor, not only in the building itself, but also in the preparation of the surface upon which it is depicted. The texture, weight, and color of the image are all direct results of this craft. In its time, photography was a rapidly developing technology, straddling the line between science and art. The albumen print, with its unique combination of material preparation and chemical process, reflects the wider social and technological changes of the 19th century, capturing a moment in time while also embodying the labor and innovation of its creation. This challenges any strict division between ‘high art’ and more workaday visual culture.