Portret van een onbekende jonge vrouw 1900 - 1914

This portrait of an unknown young woman by Atelier de Jong is a tiny rectangle, just a few inches high, of faded sepia tones. I wonder what the photographer was thinking, arranging the sitter just so. The soft focus, the way the light falls – or doesn’t quite fall – on her face, it all makes me think about painting. I can imagine the photographer looking back at old master portraits, trying to bring that classical sensibility to this new medium. The slight blurring of the image smooths out the details, just like a painter might do with brushstrokes. Look at the way the edges of her dress almost dissolve into the background. Painters and photographers, we're all in the same conversation, trying to capture something about what it means to be human. We are all in search of an answer, or maybe just more interesting questions. It's a constant exchange of ideas across time, and who knows where it will lead us next?