Moeras bij Genk before 1899

Charles Puttemans made this photograph of a marsh near Genk using photographic processes that were innovative for the time. The hazy quality, which almost dissolves the trees and sky into pure light, emerges from the artist’s mastery of photographic chemistry. Puttemans was part of a movement to assert photography as a fine art. The labor involved was not only in the careful composition of the image, but in the darkroom. Here, photographic paper was treated with light-sensitive emulsions, exposed using large-format negatives, and carefully developed. This was a scientific, technical undertaking, and the final result was far from automatic. The tonal range of this print is remarkable. The soft gradations of light speak to Puttemans’s high degree of technical skill. By emphasizing the handmade aspect of the image, Puttemans elevated photography to the level of other art forms, such as painting and drawing. He demonstrated that photography was not just a mechanical process, but a form of creative expression.