Gezicht op de toren van de Sint-Petrus'-Bandenkerk te Leende 1904

This old photograph shows the church Sint-Petrus'-Bandenkerk at Leende, though we don’t know who took it. The sepia tone gives it an antique feel, but look closer: the composition is surprisingly modern. The photographer, or maybe it’s just the way the print has aged, has reduced the scene to a few simple tones. There’s not a lot of contrast. The church tower rises up in the middle ground, a collection of geometric forms. The surface of the print is smooth, but the details are sharp enough that you can make out the individual bricks and stones. This is not a romanticized picture, but a document of the church. The photographer, perhaps unknowingly, has captured the feeling of a specific place. I'm reminded of Bernd and Hilla Becher, who photographed industrial structures with a similar, detached objectivity. Like their work, this photograph invites us to see the beauty in the everyday, and to appreciate the simple forms that make up our world. Art really is just an ongoing conversation, isn't it?