Zeilboot op open water before 1901

This photograph, "Zeilboot op open water" by E. Büchner, looks like it was made with some sort of early photographic process, maybe around the turn of the century. The scene is a sailboat cutting through what looks like some pretty rough seas. What strikes me is the way the tones are distributed. There's something almost tactile about it, a sense of the sea spray, or a thick atmosphere. The way the light catches the crests of the waves, and the way the dark clouds gather overhead, it’s all about the movement of light and shadow. Look at how the horizon line kind of dissolves into the sky. It's almost like an abstract mark, a gestural line made by the meeting of water and air. The lone sailboat becomes a small mark on the open water, a visual record of something fleeting and ephemeral. It reminds me of the seascapes of Gustave Courbet, another artist interested in light, mark making, and the dialogue between realism and something more internal. It's all there if you look closely.