Zwartwordende bovist c. 1900 - 1930

Curator: Richard Tepe's photograph, "Zwartwordende bovist", made sometime between 1900 and 1930, showcases a cluster of puffball mushrooms amidst blades of grass. It's quite captivating in its simplicity. Editor: There’s something hauntingly serene about it, almost like capturing the quiet life of things generally unseen. These mushrooms, standing there so stoically. I get a very contemplative feeling. Curator: Considering Tepe’s known adoption of Pictorialism, we can observe how he softens the focus to give this photograph its almost dreamlike atmosphere. It’s interesting to think about the active choices, technically and labor-wise, to pursue this particular aesthetic and what it signals about the work’s context. Editor: Absolutely, the muted tones really play into that, right? This could just as easily be a ghostly image plucked from folklore, rather than scientific documentation. It whispers of another world, where growth happens quietly, secretly, under our feet. It seems that this specific manipulation in-camera allows the subject to reach this dream-like feeling. Curator: And the materiality matters too, doesn’t it? These platinum or gelatin silver prints, as this photography likely is, involved complex chemical processes. Thinking of it in this sense brings to light questions of the accessibility and expertise needed to generate this kind of art at that time. Editor: I agree entirely. Looking at it that way deepens the impact of what he was crafting – not just the physical image, but a kind of statement, an attempt to merge observation with vision and emotion, while making tangible and material what remains unseen. It feels like these are silent beacons for other observers. Curator: Reflecting on our dialogue, it really pushes us to remember to see what went into constructing the things that we think of as purely beautiful. Editor: For me, I can't help but find this image a testament to how even in the seemingly mundane, there’s wonder, waiting to be captured through art.