Gezicht op Huis Heijen in Heijen, Limburg before 1915

This image, a view of Huis Heijen in Limburg, is made by an anonymous artist. The sepia tones and the texture, it's all suggestive of a photograph, yet it flirts with the kind of precision you find in architectural drawings. Notice how the light catches the brickwork on the tower, the details rendered with such clarity, it almost feels like you could run your fingers along the rough surface. But then, look at the foliage, that’s where the photograph begins to dissolve into soft focus, blurring the lines between representation and abstraction. It reminds me a little of some of those early modernist photographers, like Atget, who were documenting the changing face of their cities with a similar mix of precision and poetry. The way they captured the everyday, turning it into something both familiar and strange, is definitely present here too. It feels unresolved, like a question posed rather than an answer given.