Portret van een vrouw 1890 - 1920

This photograph, titled 'Portret van een vrouw', was created by Alexander Möhlen sometime between 1860 and 1930. I love the fact that it’s a portrait, but it’s also a document. A document of a person, a time, and a technology. The first thing that strikes me is the light, how it seems to sculpt the woman's face, creating soft shadows that give her features depth. It's like the light itself is a physical thing, carefully applied to bring her to life. There's this incredible detail in the lace around her collar. You can almost feel the texture of it, the way the light catches on the delicate threads. And that little glint from her necklace? A tiny spark of something precious and personal. Think about someone like Gerhard Richter and the way he uses photography in relation to painting, as a way to meditate on the nature of representation itself. This image becomes more than just a record; it becomes a meditation on memory, presence, and the passage of time. It invites us to contemplate the stories embedded within it, the untold narratives of a life captured in a single, luminous frame.