Portret van Lucas Jonker 1890 - 1920

This portrait of Lucas Jonker by Koene & Büttinghausen is an exercise in monochrome subtlety. The soft gradations of tone are built up with what looks like very fine marks. It’s gentle, not trying to be overly assertive. The process of making feels very present in the texture of the piece; it is the process that generates the meaning, not the other way around. Look closely at the sitter's face. There's such an incredible delicacy in the way the features are rendered. It's like they’re constructing an identity through gentle accretion. It reminds me of some of the tonal studies by 19th-century artists like James McNeill Whistler, where mood and atmosphere take precedence over detail. Ultimately, it is this ambiguity, and the range of possibilities that this entails, that makes this work so compelling. It suggests, rather than dictates, an emotional response.