Elf kalkoenen in een kooi c. 1900 - 1940

Richard Tepe captured these ‘Elf kalkoenen in een kooi’ with photography at some point during his lifetime. The tonality here is key, creating a muted feel, a world leached of colour which forces you to look more closely at the composition. There’s something fascinating about this image, not least the way the birds are crowded together behind the fence, as if drawn to the light. You can almost smell the earthy yard, feel the sun on your skin. I love the way the artist has captured the texture of the turkey’s feathers, the individual marks that make up the whole. The white bird, right in the middle, throws everything off kilter and the geometry of the fence behind acts like a frame within a frame. Tepe reminds me a little of someone like August Sander, with his taxonomic approach to photography, but there's also an element of Surrealism. It's a quiet, unassuming image that rewards closer looking. It reminds us that art is, above all, a way of seeing.