LA ALBERCA #6 1/3/2005 12:56, by Bert Teunissen

Tuesday greetings, collectors! I am most pleased to be writing to you while curled up in my cozy armchair, ensconced (at last!) in the creature comforts of home. My apologies for being such an unreliable correspondent. As I said over on Personism, Texas times two threw me for quite a loop and interfered mightily with our regularly scheduled programming. It's good to be back.

LA ALBERCA #6 1/3/2005 12:56 by Dutch master Bert Teunissen is part of his ambitious and important series Domestic Landscapes. For the past decade, Bert has been documenting a way of life that is quickly disappearing; his painterly use of natural light (perhaps a gift of his heritage?) and the reverence with which he treats these places and people result in images that I find fascinating, captivating and deeply moving.

His monograph, beautifully produced and published by Aperture last Spring, is both an aesthetic joy and a precious history. I'm so happy to be able to offer a print from the series here, and I confess that it was awfully hard to choose just one. There's so much to every picture, and I discover something new in each one, every time I look at them. I ended up choosing this one based on its ancient quality, the woman's proud demeanor, the moodiness of the light and, well, the meat. It reminds me of the Polish butchers in my East Village neighborhood (they're disappearing too) and of the wonderful lithograph I got when I was in Paris at the holidays, taken from a very old cookbook.

In our next post, part two of 20x200's super Tuesday: some words on painter Rachell Sumpter.