Portret van een militair met kepie c. 1884 - 1920

This portrait of a military man with a kepi was made by Charls & Van Es, we don't know when. It's interesting how much information is conveyed with so few tones. The photograph is nearly monochromatic, and the tonal range is so narrow that it almost resembles a drawing. The sepia tones and the oval frame have something of the past about them, yet the overall effect is striking and immediate. The texture of the paper is palpable, like a memory. Notice the delicate, almost ghostlike quality of the man's uniform against the stark background. There's a dance between what's revealed and what's concealed. I'm drawn to the mustache, which is so thick and robust. Its darkness contrasts with the whiteness of the uniform, a perfect foil. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter's gray paintings where the subject matter is blurred and slightly out of focus. Like Richter's work, this photograph seems to ask us to consider the nature of seeing itself, and the slippery relationship between representation and reality.