Rivier lopend door het dal van een bebost berglandschap c. 1903

Frits Freerks Fontein Fz. made this print of a river running through a wooded mountain landscape with photography. I imagine him walking through the landscape, camera in hand, searching for the right composition. The tones in this image are fairly uniform, a kind of muddy brown-grey, but the texture shifts as my eye travels through the composition. Up close, I can see the light reflecting off the water, rendering it almost flat. But further away, near the treeline, the light dims and the river transforms into a series of dark, almost menacing, swirls. Look at the way the trees on the right are clumped together, almost obscuring the building behind them. Thinking about the way Fontein Fz. has composed this image, I am reminded of the Hudson River School painters. Like them, Fontein Fz. invites us to contemplate the sublime beauty of nature. But unlike them, he obscures the view, reminding us that nature is not always easily accessible.