Portret van een onbekende jonge vrouw 1897 - 1909

This is a portrait of an unknown young woman, made by Jannes Faber. I like how the tones in the dress seem to move, swirling around her like a quiet storm. It's funny how photographs can look so solid, and yet the grays here have a soft, almost dissolving quality. The details of her dress—the frills around the collar and sleeves—are so precise, but then her face seems to blur slightly. There’s this play between the sharp and the soft that keeps my eye dancing. That little belt around her waist, cinching the dress, is like a dark mark against the lighter fabric, anchoring her in the frame. It reminds me of some of Alice Neel’s portraits, where she uses dark lines to bring out the character. There’s something about the way the light falls on her face, too, that feels so intimate, like we're sharing a secret.