Spoor- en riviergezicht tegen de achtergrond van een bebosd berglandschap nabij het station van Rübeland c. 1903

Frits Freerks Fontein Fz. made this photograph of a train track and river with a mountain behind, near the station of Rubeland. What grabs me about this photograph is the tonal range, the delicate balance of light and shade. It is the kind of restricted palette that makes you look closer and appreciate the small variations and modulations, and it looks like the result of a process that is slow and deliberate. Look closely and you can see that the textures are almost tactile, as if you could reach out and touch the rough bark of the trees or feel the cool smoothness of the river. And the way the light filters through the leaves, creating dappled patterns on the ground, that is the real accomplishment. The image feels like a precursor to the landscapes of someone like Gerhard Richter, another artist interested in the translation of the photographic image. Art is such an ongoing conversation like that, a continuous process of dialogue.