Lijsterbes boom c. 1900 - 1930

Richard Tepe made this photogravure of a rowan tree at some point between approximately 1880 and 1920. I see the image as a collection of marks. It's almost like the berries are a series of dots, and the leaves are dashes. I wonder what it was like for Tepe to watch the seasons change this tree. Did he sit with it for a while, watching, before capturing it on film? He’s made a choice to capture it looming over the roof of a nearby building. A decision of how to frame it. The sepia-toned palette lends a sense of timelessness to the image. It reminds me of the cyclical nature of art-making, where artists engage in a continuous dialogue across time, drawing inspiration from their predecessors and offering new perspectives to those who follow. Painting, like photography, is embodied expression. There's a sense of ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple interpretations.