Gezicht op een jong berkenbos 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe captured this view of a young birch forest with gelatin silver print. There is something haunting, almost ghostly, in this photograph. It’s all in grayscale, a world of subtle tones and soft contrasts, and you can feel the hand of the artist in the darkroom process. The texture! It's almost palpable, especially in the bark of the central tree, where the light catches every groove and knot. Look at the way the branches reach out, like delicate fingers, and how the leaves, or what's left of them, create a hazy, almost dreamlike effect. It’s so muted, almost like a memory fading at the edges. It reminds me a little of some of Gerhard Richter's blurred photographs. Both invite you to look beyond the surface, to consider the nature of perception, memory, and how we construct our own understanding of the world. It is a piece that embraces ambiguity, inviting multiple interpretations over fixed meanings.