Twee mannen bij een boerderij c. 1900 - 1930

This gelatin silver print of two men near a farmhouse was made by Richard Tepe. The limited tonal range of this sepia photograph renders the textures visible, which for me, makes process come to mind. I mean, look at the roof: the layering of the straw, its varied direction, the way it piles up, thick, against the sky. Then there is the wall. The brick held together by mortar, rough and crumbling, with those ghostly remnants of white paint. And the men! Their clothes so different, but the same in weight. You can see the labor in the cloth. It reminds me of those Dutch still lifes from the Golden Age. But this one doesn’t shine. Instead, its weight, like a painting by Hammershoi, emphasizes the mundane and the everyday.