Carte photographique de la lune, planche XXIII (Photographic Chart of the Moon, plate XXIII) Possibly 1899 - 1914

This is Charles Le Morvan's Photographic Chart of the Moon, Plate XXIII. Look at this! All those perfect circles and craters, carefully recorded, but together they make these crazy patterns that look so organic. I wonder what Le Morvan was thinking, making this work? Did he see it as science or art? I'm sure he had to be so precise, lining up the telescope, focusing, and adjusting for light, but somewhere in there he must have wondered at this strange landscape. All those pock marks, like acne, a topography of the skin, a body. And then that hard line of division—the edge of night, or the edge of the photo? Painters have always been looking up at the moon. I mean, think of the Hudson River School, painting the sublime in nature. Or even Van Gogh, painting the stars. The cosmos has always gotten us thinking about our place, and it's pretty cool to see Le Morvan joining that big conversation. It's so mysterious to me, even now, and I feel like he opened a little door for me to join that mystery, too.