Semperoper in Dresden 1907

This photograph of the Semperoper in Dresden was made by Rudolph Tamme sometime in the 19th century. It’s interesting how photography, like painting, involves a kind of mark-making, even if the marks are made by light and chemistry rather than a brush. What strikes me is the way the print captures the texture of the building’s facade. Look at the way the light plays across the stone, creating a sense of depth and volume. You can almost feel the weight of the architecture. Then there's the way the image flattens space, compressing the distance between the statue in the foreground and the opera house behind it. It reminds me of the way we often flatten space in paintings, playing with perspective to create a sense of tension and ambiguity. Thinking about photography and painting, I'm reminded of the work of Gerhard Richter. Like Tamme, he used photography as a starting point for his paintings, blurring and distorting the images to create a sense of distance and detachment. Art is such a back and forth, isn't it?