Portret van een man met snor by E. v.d. Kerkhoff

Portret van een man met snor

1895 - 1908

E. v.d. Kerkhoff's Profile Picture

E. v.d. Kerkhoff

1861 - 1943

Location

Rijksmuseum
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Artwork details

Medium
photography
Dimensions
height 84 mm, width 51 mm
Location
Rijksmuseum
Copyright
Rijks Museum: Open Domain

Tags

#portrait#photography#realism

About this artwork

This portrait of a man with a moustache, made by E. v.d. Kerkhoff, is a tiny little thing, like a memory card. I really love the way it fades around the edges; it’s almost like the photographer was painting with light. Looking at the way the sepia tones just sort of dissolve into the background, you get the sense that time is passing, like the memory is fading. There’s a lot of blank space in this image, it feels more like an absence than a presence. That moustache though - it’s got real presence! The photographer has totally nailed the focus on that bit of face fuzz. It makes me think of those really early photographic portraits, when people had to sit still for ages. I wonder what this man was thinking? He looks very serious. Maybe a little anxious? It's just so open to interpretation. This feels like an image in conversation with the work of someone like Thomas Ruff. They both share that quietness. It's definitely a piece I could look at all day.

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