Portret van een onbekende bordurende vrouw before 1903

This is a photograph of an unknown woman with thread and fabric, printed here in a book. The artist is named H. Engelken, but nothing else is known about them. I'm drawn to the contrast here – the way the darks pull the light forward, pushing the figure out from the page. She is paused in her work, caught in a moment of contemplation, or perhaps she is simply holding the pose. Look at her hands – the soft curve of her fingers as she holds the fabric. The texture is hinted at, but remains mostly in shadow. It makes me think about how we fill in the gaps in our own minds when we look at art, and how much of what we see is really a reflection of ourselves. Artmaking and embroidery, like other forms of craft, invite us to slow down, pay attention to the details, and find beauty in the everyday. Like Eva Hesse or Agnes Martin, Engelken finds a subtle power in simplicity and repetition. There's a quiet strength in the work.