Klaas Kleiterp en zijn kinderen Tiny en Klaas bij een huis Monterado op Borneo 1924 - 1927

Klaas Kleiterp made this image, "Klaas Kleiterp en zijn kinderen Tiny en Klaas bij een huis Monterado op Borneo," we don't know exactly when, using photography. It is a very interesting photograph. The family posing on the front porch. The artist is in uniform with his children in matching outfits. It feels very posed. Now, focusing on the tones, the grays, which create a subtle tonal range. The light is flat, which gives everything a slightly ghostly quality. The texture is smooth, almost velvety, and that smoothness gives it a kind of intimacy. The way he composes the photo, placing his children in the foreground, but behind them the darkness of the porch. The lines of the veranda behind them lead the eye into the space and then out again into the landscape behind. It reminds me a little of the work of Eugène Atget, who also used photography to document the people and buildings of Paris, and like Atget, Kleiterp’s work feels like a quiet, reflective exploration of people and place.