Carte photographique de la lune, planche XIII.A (Photographic Chart of the Moon, plate XIII.A) Possibly 1902 - 1914

Charles Le Morvan made this photographic chart of the moon sometime around the turn of the century, using light and shadow to map an alien world. I think of the painstaking effort involved in capturing this image: the focused attention to detail and the intense desire to map what’s out there. It’s like those early abstract expressionists trying to capture the feeling of being alive through gestural brushstrokes. The artist, like the scientist, searching for something new that might reveal a hidden structure. See the way the light falls across the craters? Each indentation casting a long shadow, the flat, white, empty-seeming surface of the paper transformed into something that feels real and tangible. The picture almost seems to move, alive with subtle contrasts and tonal gradations. It makes me think about how artists today are still trying to find new ways of seeing the world, using technology, intuition, and imagination, just like Le Morvan did. It's a reminder that art and science aren't so different, and that creative exploration is a fundamental part of being human.