Gedeelte van de Nicolaaskerk te Wijhe 1911

This sepia photograph of the Nicolaaskerk in Wijhe, made by an anonymous photographer, has a wonderful muted palette that speaks to me of process. The subtle gradations of tone, the way light and shadow play across the surface, it’s all about seeing. I keep coming back to the upper part of the image, where the roof of the church meets the sky. There’s this incredible dance between the hard, geometric lines of the architecture and the soft, hazy atmosphere. You can almost feel the weight of the building, but also sense a kind of dissolving, as if the structure is slowly merging with the ether. It makes me think of Atget, another anonymous photographer who was working around the same time. Like Atget, there’s a deep sense of observation in this piece and an understanding of how light and shadow shape our perception of the world. Art is always an ongoing conversation, right? It’s about seeing what others have seen and then finding your own way to see it anew.