We can see a painter in painterly landscapes. Art enthusiasts might recognize the places where the big names of plein-air painting of the last centuries like Caspar David Friedrich, Ferdinand Hodler, Franz Marc, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet or Vincent van Gogh et al. created their masterpieces. Hank Schmidt in der Beek stands in front of his canvas with the paint-brush in his hand. At second glance, you’ll recognize that he isn’t painting the same scene his famous predecessors painted there decades before: Instead, Hank Schmidt in der Beek is painting the pattern of his shirt.

Since 2009 Hank Schmidt in der Beek works on the ongoing series “Und im Sommer tu ich malen” (‘And in Summer I do Paint’). Together with the photographer Fabian Schubert he travels through Europe to paint his own self portrait. The work combines conceptual and concrete art as well as plein-air with portrait painting.

On 30 double pages the book juxtaposes the painting in opposition to the photograph of the moment of its genesis. A homage to modernist painting and its documentation.