Gezicht op een weidelandschap before 1912

This small black and white photograph of a weidelandschap, or meadow landscape, was made by Henry W. Taunt. I get the sense that he was working with a long exposure here, which brings a soft focus to the scene. The tones are muted, subtle shades of gray. There are some trees on the left side of the frame, and they seem to curve slightly inward, guiding our eyes into the scene. The foreground is blurry, as though we're looking through a screen. We move into an open field, then to a building further back. The texture looks grainy, full of little details that invite you to lean closer, despite the image being so small. It reminds me of the way Gerhard Richter used black and white photographs as source material for his paintings, blurring the source image until all that's left is feeling. Art doesn’t need to shout, sometimes a whisper is enough.