Paard met wagen en fietser langs een vaart c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe created this photograph of a canal with a horse and cart and a cyclist sometime between 1880 and 1920. It’s a scene of tranquility, a very still and quiet piece. I imagine Tepe, on a still, grey day, looking for a composition. I empathize with him, he’s trying to capture the right balance of elements – the building on the left, the bare trees casting shadows, the canal itself. What was he thinking when he made it? Perhaps he was trying to see how the camera could freeze a moment in time, to distil the essence of a scene. It’s a very balanced composition, like a classical landscape painting, and I wonder if he’s thinking about those. The tones are warm and earthy. Look at the reflections in the water – the trees and the sky. They are echoed in reverse. What are they reflecting? What are we reflecting on when we look at this image? Artists, we are always looking at and learning from each other, riffing off each other's ideas, whether we know it or not.