Still life with chair, rug and stringed instrument, Sri Lanka 1933 - 1944

Lionel Wendt made this silver gelatin print, *Still life with chair, rug and stringed instrument, Sri Lanka*, sometime during his short life. I'm just imagining him out there with his camera, carefully arranging these objects in a garden in Sri Lanka, working with light and shadow, and letting the process itself be a voyage of discovery. There's a chair, a rug, and a musical instrument, all intertwined with nature. That instrument resting on the rug looks like it has a story to tell. The high contrast between the objects and the natural world, the tonal variations and attention to surface texture, suggests a dialogue with the history of photography, and the still life tradition. Like painters, photographers create new ways of seeing, thinking, and experiencing the world. Each artist's work builds upon what came before, expanding our understanding of art. I hope Wendt knew that his artistic investigation would inspire others.