Portret van de tenor Louis van Tulder c. 1919 - 1930

This small portrait of the tenor Louis van Tulder, made by an anonymous artist, looks like a photograph, but is likely a print. The palette is monochromatic, all browns and creams, giving it a sense of warmth and familiarity. I’m drawn to the inscription, scrawled in looping cursive across the front of the image, both obscuring and revealing the figure beneath. Look closely and you can see that this isn’t just a signature, but a dedication, “Jaene vriendschappelijt voor de Heer Nico Steyer.” Its meaning lost to time, the inscription adds a layer of intimacy to the image, a reminder that art is often created in response to personal relationships. It reminds me of some of the painted-over photographs by Gerhard Richter, where the original image is both present and absent, transformed by the artist’s hand. This portrait, like Richter's work, embraces ambiguity, suggesting that meaning is always shifting and evolving.