Untitled 1980

This untitled photograph, by Ursula Schulz-Dornburg, presents a landscape rendered in a very particular way. I love how she uses a limited tonal range, to flatten the scene, to make us concentrate on the forms of the vegetation and water. There's a beautiful, almost meditative quality to the repetition of the reeds and the stillness of the water. You can really see the way the light interacts with the surfaces, creating subtle variations in texture and tone. The horizon line is almost like a drawn mark, slightly blurred but definitive. What could be a very busy image has been distilled into something quite simple. For me, this piece relates to the landscapes of Agnes Martin. There is a similar sense of reduction, where the subject matter is simplified to emphasize line, form, and light. These artists show that landscapes aren't just about pretty scenes; they're about how we see and experience the world.