Begraafplaats te Bath, Pennsylvania c. 1890 - 1920

W.D. Walter made this cyanotype print of a graveyard in Bath, Pennsylvania, sometime in the past. The print is a study in contrasts: bright white gravestones punctuate a deep blue field, an inverted color scheme that transforms a familiar landscape into something otherworldly. The physical qualities of the cyanotype process are striking. The blue seeps into every corner, pooling in the shadows, lending a uniform feel to the scene. Look at the individual tombstones. The details aren't crisp, but blurred, as if seen through water. The blue seeps into every corner, creating a meditative, dreamy atmosphere. This piece reminds me of the ghostly photography of Eugène Atget, who captured the disappearing streets of Paris with a similar sense of melancholy. Art-making, like memory, is never a precise rendering, but always a negotiation between clarity and haze.