Landschap: bergen bij de Skagit River, Washington [staat], Verenigde Staten 1936

Curator: Let's discuss this striking gelatin silver print, taken in 1936, entitled "Landschap: bergen bij de Skagit River, Washington." What strikes you first, Editor? Editor: Immediately? The stark grandeur, almost monochrome, yet with this quiet intimacy. It feels lonely, yet immense; the bridge cuts through it but nature will win here, that's for sure! It pulls you into the silence of those mountains. Curator: Yes, it’s interesting to see the inclusion of the industrial—the bridge, the wires—juxtaposed with this vast wilderness. Wouter Cool captured a tension in the landscape. I'm curious about the paper choice as a kind of visual language of an artwork Editor: It feels like the paper itself adds to the drama; it isn't pristine or perfect, the imperfections enhance the sense of the past—the fleeting present caught by the lens. Almost ghostly? As if we’re trespassing in the landscape. Curator: Exactly! Cool was playing with the social and political context. He’s subtly reminding us about labor and the expansion of infrastructure. The consumption of the land for industrial and technological advancements. And this is achieved by highlighting, using different kind of papers that brings a great deal of importance Editor: A quiet, yet biting commentary then. Even those objects I see close up at the lower left corner have an eery feeling of almost an alien civilization as an introduction or welcome Curator: Precisely. The photographic medium, and the gelatin silver print itself, becomes integral to expressing this moment in the relationship between the built environment and the environment we inherit. Editor: Thinking about Cool’s framing – he's carefully considering nature but almost as stage backdrop. Are those even streetlights?! Curator: A possible and interesting interpreation of the landscape and the time when this piece was captured in. Well, that’s a lot to consider, about the place. Thank you for this chat Editor: Thank you, an image, well chosen can indeed say so many things if you simply slow down a moment.