Fotoreproducties van twee foto's door William Henry Fox Talbot before 1908

Here are two photographs by William Henry Fox Talbot, reproduced in a book, maybe sometime in the mid-twentieth century. What strikes me is that one image seems to be of a building and ladder, and the other, a crowd of grotesque faces, maybe a drawing. Together they feel experimental, like the artist was trying to see what he could capture, what new worlds he could reveal. You sense an artist reaching, trying new things, pushing the boundaries. I imagine Talbot experimenting in his darkroom, coaxing images out of the ether, surprised at what emerges. I find myself looking at the differences in texture – the grainy, almost coarse quality of the architectural study, versus the smooth, illustrative finish of the faces. It reminds me that artists often explore different styles and techniques, and that each choice is a way of seeing, of thinking, of feeling. It's inspiring to see how artists build on each other's discoveries.