Twee zeegezichten c. 1930

These two seascapes by Berti Hoppe feel like they were captured with a lot of care, probably using a camera and printing process that was quite new for the time. There's something about the texture in both photographs that gets me. In the top one, you can see the soft gradations of light on the wet sand, and this incredible glow coming through the clouds, so soft, they almost dissolve. Then, in the lower image, it is the opposite, the ocean’s surface is a mass of choppy waves rendered in almost violent detail, with this white crest contrasting against the darker depths. I'm drawn to how these different depictions of water evoke such different feelings. The artist could be compared to someone like Gustave Le Gray, who also played with light and shadow to capture seascapes but in a different way, but these works have a raw quality that transcends any one comparison. It reminds us that art is a conversation and an exploration rather than a definitive statement.