Gezicht op de Hervormde Kerk te Dongen 1910

This photograph of the Hervormde Kerk in Dongen was taken by an anonymous photographer, sometime around 1910. It looks like it was made to document the architecture, but what I like about this work is the grey scale. It flattens and abstracts the church so it’s less about the building and more about light and dark, solid and soft. Look at how the photographer has approached the trees in contrast to the stone walls; the leaves are a mass of tones and the stone is a uniform slab. Then there’s the road, this simple curve that both supports the depth of field and throws it off-kilter. I’m reminded of some of Gerhard Richter’s blurry landscapes and cityscapes, the way he's not trying to get at representation, but rather a feeling. Even though we know what the photograph shows, it’s the ambiguity and contrast that makes it so intriguing. Isn’t it strange how sometimes the clearest images tell us the least?