Gezicht op een stad tegen een berg aan een water, mogelijk in Frans of Spaans Baskenland 1904

Delizy’s small photograph captures a city against a mountain along a body of water, possibly in the French or Spanish Basque Country. The sepia tone creates a sense of depth that suggests a dreamlike state, a place and time removed from our own. This singular colour reminds me of a faded memory, or an old master drawing, or even a landscape painting, and I am prompted to contemplate the process of its making. The buildings are perched on the hillside, and it’s this very precarity that gives the scene its drama. Look closer, and you’ll see the details emerge. The way the light catches the buildings, the ripples on the water, the path that winds its way up the mountain. Each element is rendered with care, but it's the overall composition that really grabs you. Like a painting, this photograph is an invitation to slow down and really see. The work of someone like Atget comes to mind; someone who was really looking, and making a record, who was also making art.