Friday, July 30, 2010

To make history of the historian

It was a gorgeous day in Amsterdam yesterday.
A bright sky, warm sunshine and very clear light.
A day making it impossible to be down or sad.
Only happiness could fill the heart.

In the morning a long meeting with a man who is graduating to become a photography art historian.
For this he needs to study one particular photographer who is of importance.
To eventually publish a paper on the work of that photographer.

It was the second interview with this art historian to be.
He had been studying the books that have been published until now and had many questions particularly about the sequences.
Background stories, motivations, philosophy, intentions.

In about three months his paper will be published.
Possibly as a book.
And therefore, as the subject of the study, the issue arises whether the job is done and all is history or that it is just a stage and much more is to come.

It is realized that it is all a matter of what comes up in the mind.
How it wants to be seen.
If the feeling dominates it is all history: it will be history.
And nothing will be added anymore to the current body of work.

But if the feeling is that the paper of the art historian is only a snapshot of the current stage the work is in, an opening is made to be able to make much more work.

Therefore, the job is to make history of the historian.




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