Foto c. 1895 - 1925

This is an early photograph by W.G. Hondius van den Broek, showing a couple in a portrait. It feels like peering into a ghostly memory. Look at how the figures emerge from the dark ground. The tonal inversions are so intriguing: are they illuminated or consumed by light? I wonder what it was like for Hondius van den Broek to capture this image. I imagine him experimenting, tinkering with his equipment, making discoveries. The surface itself feels alive, with all its imperfections and strange markings. These aren’t flaws, but rather, the very evidence of the image’s coming-into-being. It makes you realize that all artists are in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas across time. Like the way one painter might be influenced by another’s brushstroke or use of color, so too can photographers like Hondius van den Broek inspire our own creativity and understanding of the world.