Javanen, Groote Combéweg 1903 - 1910

Hendrik Doijer made this photograph, Javanen, Groote Combéweg, sometime between 1863 and 1925. Look at the range of grey tones, so finely captured on film! I wonder what it was like for Doijer to be in that space, setting up the shot. And what were those Javanese people thinking as they looked back at him? What did they make of this guy with his camera? I feel their gaze, direct and self-possessed. The little girl especially seems to consider him. There's an honesty in the surface of the wooden house, and in the patterned fabrics. A tonal landscape created with different shades of light and shadow. Painters know that photographs are never neutral; they are always someone's view. Similarly, painters bring their own feelings and experiences to the canvas, layering them into the work. It's like a conversation between the artist and the world, full of questions.