Portret van een meisje met een tennisracket c. 1907 - 1911

This is Johann Herman Friedrich Labohm’s, “Portret van een meisje met een tennisracket,” whose date remains unknown, that hangs in the Rijksmuseum. Imagine the artist carefully setting up the shot, perhaps guiding the young girl into position, encouraging her to hold the racket just so. There's something endearing about the formality of the pose. The slight tension in her expression as she holds perfectly still. Labohm must have been thinking about capturing something more than just a likeness. Was he hoping to convey her spirit, her potential, or the innocence of childhood frozen in time? I wonder if he saw the way photography could blur the boundaries between documentation and artistic expression. It makes me consider the subtle gestures in my own work. The marks that hopefully communicate feeling, intention, and a little bit of the unknown.