Het strand bij Babbicombe met strandtentjes en roeiboten. c. 1901

This is a photograph of Babbicombe beach with bathing huts and rowing boats by Frits Freerks Fontein Fz. It’s a study in contrasts really, with the hulking mass of the cliff set against the delicate, almost ephemeral structures on the beach. The tonal range here is so subtle, a kind of dance between light and shadow. The texture of the cliff face is amazing. You can almost feel the roughness of the stone. And then, down below, the soft, yielding sand. Fontein has really captured the light in a way that makes the whole scene feel alive. Look at the bathing huts all in a row; they give a human scale to the vastness of the landscape. Fontein’s work reminds me a bit of Gustave Le Gray, who was also playing with photography as a way to capture light and atmosphere. Both artists are interested in the possibilities of photography, and its ability to suggest a feeling more than a literal record. The pleasure is in the looking.