Portret van Isabel Wachenheimer in Lysil, 1937 1937

This photograph, *Portret van Isabel Wachenheimer in Lysil*, was made in 1937 by an anonymous artist. The blacks and whites give way to subtle greys; it’s a limited palette, but within it there’s a whole world. I find myself looking at the details, the material aspects of the photograph. There's a softness and subtlety in the way the light falls across the girl's face, her hair. Everything seems to coalesce around the eyes, the hint of a smile. I notice the slightly blurred edges, a certain graininess that speaks to the age of the photograph, a reminder of time passing, and the fragility of memory. There is something so striking in its simplicity. It reminds me a little of the work of someone like Lucian Freud, who had that capacity for capturing the essence of a sitter. But this image is quite different, it reminds us that art embraces ambiguity.