Portret van een onbekende baby 1900 - 1914

This is a portrait of an unknown baby made by Firma Nieuwstad using photography. It's amazing what the absence of color does to a photograph, how it strips everything back to focus on the fundamental forms of light and shadow. The baby's outfit has this really cool, almost knitted texture, which gives the image a tactile quality, despite it being a flat photograph. I love how the soft gradations of tone render the plumpness of the baby’s features so precisely, especially around the cheeks and tiny, serious mouth. Look at how the shadows define the curve of the baby's legs and feet – it’s such a simple, but effective, way to create depth and volume. This image reminds me of the work of early modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz, who used photography to explore the possibilities of light and form. Just like in their work, here we are not just looking at a baby, but at the pure essence of photographic image-making, at the play of light, texture, and tone.