Rustende mensen op een grasveld temidden van besneeuwde heuveltoppen c. 1920 - 1945

This small stereograph by Geldolph Adriaan Kessler captures resting people on a grassy field amidst snowy mountain tops. You know, I can imagine Kessler setting up his camera, trying to frame that distant view. Did he ask these people to sit there, or did he catch them by surprise? It feels like a staged tableau, and yet, there's something real in how they're arranged in the landscape. It makes me think about how we interact with our environments, how we pause and observe, or become part of the scenery ourselves. The cool tones evoke a sense of stillness, like the crisp air of the mountains. Think of Caspar David Friedrich, the way he captured the sublime indifference of nature, and how we find ourselves both dwarfed and uplifted by it. These mountain ranges echo his work. I imagine that artists are always thinking through what other artists are thinking about. They share problems.