Gezicht op een terp bij Tószeg 1928

Jan Lanting made this gelatin silver print of a mound near Tószeg sometime between 1920 and 1960. Can you feel the weight of the paper and the way the light settles on its surface? It's easy to imagine Lanting, out in that field, wrestling with the camera to capture this wide flat landscape and distant mound. There’s a stillness that’s almost haunting, a quietude that speaks to the timelessness of the land. The horizon line is so clear, so determined. It's like Lanting’s saying, "Here it is, the earth." Painters like Agnes Martin have this same pared-down quality. It reminds us that simplicity can be the most profound statement. It makes you think about what it means to be human and how we relate to the world. I love how he sees the poetry of the ordinary.