Huizen langs drooggevallen rivierbedding in Annonay 1904

Delizy made this photograph, Houses along a dried-up riverbed in Annonay, with a camera and photographic paper at some point, and it's now here at the Rijksmuseum. The sepia tone gives it a feeling of something remembered, of seeing the world through a distant lens. It’s interesting how the buildings crowd the riverbed. It’s like the natural and the artificial are in competition, vying for the same space. Look at the texture of those stone walls! You can almost feel the roughness, the years of weather etched into the surface. And how the light catches the edges of the buildings, creating these stark contrasts that define the forms. The water running through the image almost becomes the focal point – like a mirror, reflecting the hard surfaces that surround it. It reminds me a little of some of the early Bernd and Hilla Becher photos – although Delizy’s is less formal, more atmospheric. The conversation between artists is always so interesting, isn’t it? How they take up and transform each other's ideas across time.