Gezicht op een bouwwerk met een terras aan een water before 1920

Editor: This photograph, a gelatin-silver print titled "Gezicht op een bouwwerk met een terras aan een water" by Donald Mennie, probably taken before 1920, presents a building near the water, with its image mirrored below. The sepia tones lend the image a subdued and calming quality, almost dreamlike. What are your impressions of it? Curator: Oh, this takes me back to my first trip to Asia. I see a landscape of serenity, wouldn’t you agree? But there's a layer of artifice too, isn't there? It reminds me of staged studio photography that imitates landscape painting from the time, this romantic pursuit of the ‘Orient’, if you will. Mennie was trying to capture not just the visual but, perhaps, an idealized essence. Editor: It's interesting you say that. It does seem a little too perfect to be just a candid shot. Do you think that influences our interpretation of it today? Curator: Absolutely! The sepia tone, the careful framing… these are all choices. Are they genuine reflections of reality or constructions? It becomes more about *his* experience of the place than necessarily a straightforward documentation. It makes me question what I'm actually seeing. Almost like a theatrical set, doesn't it, where every element is positioned just so to convey a feeling? Editor: I hadn’t considered it that way before! I was caught up in the calm atmosphere, but now I see how the photograph is presenting a specific point of view. Thanks for sharing your view, and your questions, Curator. Curator: My pleasure! That push and pull, questioning what’s real and what's performed, makes this picture endlessly interesting to me. Food for thought, indeed.