Toren van de Nieuwezijds Kapel te Amsterdam 1908

Albert Adriaansz made this photograph, "Toren van de Nieuwezijds Kapel te Amsterdam", at an unknown date, but the photograph is mounted on a piece of card which is inscribed with the date 1900. What I find striking is how Adriaansz finds drama in the ordinary through the use of grayscale. It's all about the subtle gradations of tone, the way light glances off the roof tiles, creating these rhythmic patterns. The texture in this photograph is so important; the way you can almost feel the rough surface of the tiles, each one catching the light differently. And then there’s the spire, this elegant, almost ethereal form reaching up into the sky. The contrast between the solid, grounded roof and the soaring spire is what makes it so compelling, a dialogue between the earthly and the spiritual. Think about Bernd and Hilla Becher, with their typologies of industrial structures; Adriaansz shares this interest in the beauty of form, but with a softer, more romantic touch. It reminds us that art is not just about grand gestures, but about paying attention to the quiet, overlooked corners of our world.