Portret van een man met snor 1880 - 1887

Editor: Here we have "Portret van een man met snor," a photograph by Albert Greiner, created sometime between 1880 and 1887. The sepia tone gives it such a nostalgic, almost melancholic feel. He looks so serious, resting his hands just so... what do you see when you look at it? Curator: Ah, yes, another soul captured in that brief window of the late 19th century. I see a certain…determination in his gaze. It reminds me of daguerreotypes and those long exposure times! You know, imagining people trying not to blink, trying to hold perfectly still, just to exist in a new medium... I feel like his slight tension adds character. But do you see something more in his posture perhaps? Something in the set of his jaw or maybe how he holds his hands? Editor: Well, his crossed hands suggest a closed-off feeling to me, even a little apprehensive maybe? Curator: Perhaps. Or maybe it's simply… patience. The man stares hopefully, looking ahead. I also sense the birth of the modern "man-about-town" isn't it? And while this is *a* man in a suit, its also *the* man in a suit! You get what I mean? A photograph is but one tiny drop in this subject’s expansive existence. Editor: Absolutely. So, it's almost like reading a little story, seeing beyond just the surface-level image. It also has something a bit voyeuristic. Curator: Beautifully said. It always does, doesn’t it? After all, the very best art will find you spying and then smiling, too.