Blootgelegde aardlagen bij archeologische opgravingen in Hongarije 1928

This photograph of exposed layers of earth at an archeological dig in Hungary was taken by Jan Lanting sometime in the twentieth century. What strikes me is the way Lanting seems to have found a ready-made abstract artwork in the ground itself. The photo presents an almost monochromatic palette of browns and greys. The layering of the earth reminds me of sedimentary painting techniques, where artists build up textures and forms through successive strata of color and material. Look at the wall of earth; the textures are palpable, gritty, almost sculptural. You can see the marks of digging, the scoring and scraping that reveals the layers beneath. It's a bit like a Gerhard Richter squeegee painting, but done by the earth and the archeologists pickaxe, over centuries. It makes me think about Robert Smithson and his earthworks and how art can be about excavation, both literally and metaphorically, and it is about making visible what lies beneath the surface.