Gezelschap bij het besneeuwde huis van de familie Cheetham in Rusland 1904

This is a photo, probably taken in February 1904 by Joseph Cheetham, of the Cheetham family home, somewhere in Russia. It's mostly white, an off-white, like old paper, or faded memories, and everything is covered in snow, so the tones and textures run together. It feels immediate, but also distant, like a dream of the past. The house itself is a long, low structure, almost hidden behind a picket fence, with a cluster of dark figures standing off to the side, perhaps family or friends. The surface of the print is matte, so it absorbs the light, creating a sense of intimacy. It’s very small, but it draws you in, making you want to look closer. It reminds me of some of the early landscapes by artists like Caspar David Friedrich, or even some of the later, more melancholic works of Philip Guston - all of them wrestling with the weight of history and the fleeting nature of time. But art isn't about answers anyway, it's more about the questions we ask ourselves along the way.