Knotwilgen langs een beek c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe made this photograph of pollard willows along a brook, and the first thing I notice is that the trees are mirrored in the water, as if he were painting a double image, like a Rorschach. I wonder what Tepe was thinking, standing there with his camera? Did he wait for the light to be just right, or did he grab the moment as it was? I see the texture in the bark of the trees, the way they've been pruned, almost like a haircut. The surface has a strange affect. It's almost like a daguerreotype but it also feels very modern. I look at the negative space around the trees and feel the stillness of the countryside. The repetition of shapes reminds me of Mondrian's trees, but here, it's nature itself doing the abstraction. Artists are always in conversation, across time, you know? I imagine Tepe looking at this image and thinking about the way the light catches the water, and then another artist sees this photograph and is inspired to paint something completely new.