Portret van John Stol op de fiets met boeket bloemen en aan weerszijden van zich twee onbekende mannen 1914

This black and white photograph of John Stol on a bicycle with a bouquet of flowers, flanked by two unidentified men, was taken in 1914 by an anonymous photographer. The limited grayscale palette gives it a timeless, almost ghostly quality. I find myself drawn to the textures in this image; the rough grain of the photograph itself and the way the light catches Stol's face. The bouquet in particular strikes me. It's blurred, indistinct, but still bursting with life. I imagine that’s how the day of the race would have felt for Stol, all a bit of a blur. The photograph feels as though it's about capturing a moment in time, fleeting but powerful. There's a rawness to it, a sense of immediacy that reminds me a little of Walker Evans' documentary photography; capturing ordinary life in a way that feels extraordinary. The artist’s choice to frame it simply emphasizes its straightforward honesty. It suggests that the truth of the moment is enough and doesn’t need embellishment.