Jager in een boot 1895 - 1910

This stereo image shows us a hunter in a boat. It was made anonymously using photography at some point in the past. I'm drawn to the way this image uses duplication as a way of understanding the world, this pre-digital doubling that mimics the process of seeing with two eyes. The sepia tones and the soft focus lend a dream-like quality to the scene, making it feel distant and immediate all at once. Look at how the reflections in the water almost perfectly mirror the physical objects above. The subtle gradations in tone capture the stillness of the water and the weight of the animal in the boat. Think of the hyperrealism of Gerhard Richter, another artist interested in the mediation of the world through the lens of a camera, but here, in this anonymous image, there's an additional layer of interpretation, as the photographer attempts to make something three-dimensional from two dimensions. Like all art, this is about a conversation; what does it mean to represent something, and what is lost in the process?