Portret van een onbekende man c. 1910 - 1920

Leonardus Pieter Tismeer made this mysterious photograph of an unknown man, and it has a subtle but present range of tones that draw you in. The sepia tones give this portrait a sense of age, a kind of quiet gravity. Look at the slight imperfections in the paper, the gentle fading around the edges – these are all part of its story. I keep thinking about how Tismeer captured this man's gaze, so direct and yet somehow distant. The light catches the planes of his face, highlighting the details, the set of his jaw. It reminds me a bit of some of August Sander's portraits, where the focus is on capturing a type, but here there’s something more intimate, more personal. It’s as if Tismeer wasn’t just recording a likeness, but trying to capture something of the man’s inner life.