Klein Hoefblad c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe made this photograph, Klein Hoefblad, at an unknown date, using a medium of unknown type. The approach to composition here is interesting, because it feels like Tepe is making a painting, but he’s using a camera instead of a brush. The shades of gray create a tapestry that flattens the image. The textures of the ground, plants and seed heads is carefully rendered with a long depth of field. There's something about the repetition of forms, the way the seed heads curl over that remind me of Philip Guston's late paintings of shoes and Klan hoods; mundane objects and controversial subject matter brought together in the same pictorial space. The monochromatic palette gives the whole scene a sense of timelessness, as if we could be looking at something from centuries ago or just yesterday. It's about the ambiguity, the questions that arise when we look closely and let our minds wander.