Anatomie van een slak before 1901

This is Adolphe Louis Donnadieu’s Anatomie van een slak, or Anatomy of a Snail, a monochrome image in a book. It has a strange immediacy, don’t you think? The snail’s anatomy is laid bare, captured in stark monochrome. The shapes are somehow soft despite their scientific nature. It reminds me of making paintings, where I’m pulling out all these guts and laying them bare on the canvas. Look closely at the tangle of shapes, the way the light catches the curves and folds. It's like a still life, but of something usually hidden away. Donnadieu’s process, like painting, unveils a hidden world, turning the everyday into something extraordinary. It reminds me a bit of the surrealist project, like Hans Bellmer’s uncanny dolls. It makes you think about the hidden depths within us all, doesn’t it?