Huizen te Takengon 1903 - 1913

This photograph, Huizen te Takengon, was made by an anonymous artist. The muted tones and soft focus create a sense of distance. Like looking at a memory. The texture here is all about the layering of tones. The artist captures a sense of depth through these shades, the houses in the foreground rendered with slightly more detail and the mountains in the background, blurred and indistinct. It’s like the artist is inviting you to reconstruct the scene. The eye can wander, filling in the blanks. There’s a little path winding into the distance. The artist leads you into a place, that feels at once both familiar and mysterious. It reminds me of Eugène Atget, who also made work about recording and remembering through a lens. Ultimately, art’s beauty lies in its openness.