Gezicht op de Doopsgezinde Vermaning te Zaandam 1942 - 1973

Cor van Weele made this photograph of the Mennonite Church in Zaandam, and right away I want to meet this artist, don't you? The photograph is like a memory, softened by time and perhaps a little wistful. We're seeing this scene from the vantage point of a boat; the church is in the distance, across the water, the bow of the boat acting like a frame within a frame. I feel as if I am there, on the water, and it's very still, even though the water is disturbed. I wonder what it was like for van Weele to have made this picture. What was he thinking as he looked through the lens, composing the shot? Was he drawn to the geometric simplicity of the church, or perhaps the way it reflected in the water? Maybe it was the contrast between the sturdy boat and the more ethereal, dreamlike quality of the landscape beyond. Artists are constantly in conversation with one another, across time, inspiring and influencing each other's work. This photograph feels like part of that ongoing dialogue, a contribution to the way we see and experience the world.