Achtersteven voor een sleepboot Possibly 1930

This photograph, titled 'Achtersteven voor een sleepboot', captures the stern of a tugboat, or rather the cast-steel component of one. It was taken at an unknown date by an anonymous photographer. The texture of the steel is paramount; it's all about the touch, the cold, hard reality of this object. The photograph seems to be a kind of study, and invites a discussion of industrial form, and materiality. See how the stern is suspended, caught mid-air. This elevates it beyond mere utility, it almost looks like a brutalist sculpture. The way light plays on the metal surfaces, creating highlights and shadows, adds depth and a sense of weight. The whole thing has this wonderful tension between function and something almost sacred, turning industry into something strangely beautiful. It reminds me of the photographs of Albert Renger-Patzsch, who also found something uncanny in the everyday. It shows how something as simple as a tugboat part can be seen with new eyes.