Drie portretten van een paar geliefden met een gitaar in een roeiboot 1900 - 1930

Alfred Noyer made this set of three photographs mounted on card, showing a couple with a guitar in a rowing boat. The reddish monochrome evokes a bygone era, like a faded memory, doesn't it? What strikes me is the staging and repetition, like an early film strip or a series of slightly different takes. You can feel the artist searching, trying to find the perfect pose, the perfect moment. It’s like Noyer is asking: what does love look like, what does happiness sound like? Look how the light catches the guitar, mirroring the curves of the boat. Each photograph is tinted, but in the right-hand frame, the figure's dress is noticeably more translucent, this lends a surreal ethereal feeling. This reminds me of Gerhard Richter’s photo paintings, how he blurred the lines between photography and painting. Just like Richter, Noyer seems to be interested in the way that images can both capture and distort reality. It's all about the in-between spaces, the ambiguities, and the multiple layers of meaning.