Portret van een man 1908 - 1920

This small portrait of a man was made by Willem Christiaan Kroes at an unknown date. It is an object from another time, which is quite intimate. I wonder about this man as he was being photographed, who looks like a young businessman. I wonder if the photographer and the sitter knew each other well? The image seems to be monochrome, which reduces the amount of information. It’s kind of like removing layers to reveal something essential. He looks like a figure from the past who just happens to be here with us. Thinking about Kroes, maybe he wanted to portray something permanent, something solid. Yet, the nature of photography is change, and it has this strange way of showing us things that are gone. In a way, Kroes is showing us that these things are always in flux and evolving. The simple brown frame around the image brings out the old-fashioned beauty of the photograph. The tones and colors of the photograph give it a timeless quality and invite us to think about how images talk to each other across history.