Fries van het Parthenon before 1910

Here’s a photograph of the Fries van het Parthenon by Frédéric Boissonnas. It’s a simple image in a square format, printed in warm sepia tones. When I look at this image, I imagine Boissonnas as a painter with a camera, carefully framing his shot of the Parthenon. He’s composing with light and shadow, simplifying the ancient stones into abstract shapes. I think about the physicality of stone and the way Boissonnas coaxes out the textures. He probably wanted to capture the monumentality of the site, but what I find most striking is the intimacy of the image. It’s like a quiet conversation with history. This photograph reminds me that art-making, whether through painting or photography, is an ongoing dialogue across time, where each artist builds upon the work of those who came before. Photography is just another way of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world, with its own language and its own kind of embodied expression.