Gezicht op een water before 1900

This photograph of a waterscape was printed in an unknown year by A. Wande. As a photogravure printed in ink, this image belongs to a lineage of reproduction. The rich tonality of the water and sky is captured through the painstaking work of transferring an image onto a printing plate, then carefully inking and pressing it onto paper. The image's beauty resides in this tension between the mechanical and the manual, where the image's surface reveals the layers of human intervention required to produce it. The making of this image is a reminder of the labor and skill invested in a process designed for mass consumption. Consider how the material processes employed to create this print—engraving, inking, pressing—imbue the artwork with its significance, challenging traditional distinctions between fine art and craft.