Drie foto's van de tuin van Villa Tritone, Sorrento 1938 - 1950

These photographs of the garden of the Villa Tritone in Sorrento were taken by Norbert van den Berg in the 1930s. Photography is a fascinating medium. It seems so immediate, but of course, it’s anything but. Consider what it takes to produce even an apparently simple image. The camera itself, an instrument of great precision, and the chemical processes necessary to develop the image. It’s a small miracle when you think about it. The soft sepia tones of these prints speak to the hand of the darkroom technician. It is fascinating how a single sheet in an album like this contains so much: it’s a document of a place, a time, and a sensibility. Van den Berg was interested in more than just recording the facts of the Villa Tritone; he was composing a mood, an atmosphere. And his photographic work, while perhaps not ‘high art’ in the conventional sense, is nonetheless a skillful and evocative act of making.