Twee Wehrmacht militairen Possibly 1940 - 1945

This is a photograph of two Wehrmacht soldiers made at an unknown date by an anonymous photographer. It’s a small, black and white image, where the grayscale is so important. It’s how we see the light hitting their uniforms, the way the fabric folds and creases around their bodies. Look at the way the light catches the buttons and trim on their jackets. These little details are so sharply rendered. The anonymous artist's focus is on representing the materiality of these men's clothes. The photograph is really interesting. It documents a moment in time, but it also transforms that moment through the photographer's choices about composition, light, and focus. It makes me think about artists like Gerhard Richter, who used photography as source material. He was interested in how a photograph could become something else, something more, through the act of painting. Like Richter’s blurred paintings, the focus of this photograph can open up new ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world.