Rivier op plantage Accaribo te Suriname 1916 - 1930

Theodoor Brouwers made this photograph, 'Rivier op plantage Accaribo te Suriname', using a camera and photographic paper. It’s a landscape, yes, but the way Brouwers has framed the figure really activates the whole image. I love the texture; the way the light falls and the almost monochromatic palette makes the surface feel aged and tactile. The ripples in the water, the dark line of trees on the horizon, and then that figure in the foreground, it all creates a rhythm, an arrangement. The pose of the figure, arm outstretched, what are they doing? It’s hard to tell, but the gesture is really what animates the picture. It reminds me of some of the early modernist landscape painters like Derain, or Vlaminck. There’s something very intuitive about this piece, a kind of direct response that feels very contemporary. Art making is a conversation across time and place, and Brouwers is inviting us to join in.