Groepsportret van studenten met bierpullen en kaarsen Possibly 1907 - 1911

This photograph by Joël de Lange captures a group of students with beer steins and candles. It’s a moody image, where the deep blacks feel almost like an embrace, swallowing detail and leaving just enough light to play with. The texture is everything here, isn't it? You can almost feel the slick, grainy surface of the photograph, that particular emulsion of the time. Look closely – see how the light catches on the edges of the beer steins and candles, making them seem like little beacons in the darkness? It’s like de Lange is saying, "Here's what matters: the light, the camaraderie, the ritual." The way de Lange uses light reminds me a bit of early Gerhard Richter, actually. That same interest in the photograph as an object, a thing in itself. But where Richter abstracts, de Lange seems to want to preserve a moment, a feeling. Is it nostalgia? Maybe. Or maybe it's just a bunch of guys having a beer in the dark, and the camera happened to be there. Art is so cool that way, never just one thing.