Whenever I get together with my friend Paul, and even when we talk on the phone, although not so much nowadays, he likes to ask me, who are your influences. My answer has always been, I don’t have any photographic influences (other than the million images I see a day of course); I would instead look to painters, especially the Impressionists, and more recently also Constable, as well as Vermeer. When I got home from this latest visit, I looked once again at the postcard above our fireplace, and thought, yes, that would qualify. It’s “Chez Mondrian” by André Kertész. It’s just a fabulous composition: the light, the combination of foreground on one side and receding depth on the other; the right-angles of the door frame, and the table, contrasting with the curves of the vase and the stair rail. It’s an inspiration every time I come up or down our stairs! Of course, I also realize that one reason I like it so much is the way it looks to me so very like a Vermeer…

To see a bigger image of the photograph, I’ve linked to one at the DIA.