Untitled (young woman in long black dress standing between chair and window) after 1940

This gelatin silver print by Paul Gittings captures a young woman in a long black dress, positioned between a chair and a window. I wonder what it was like for Gittings to be in that room, adjusting the light, asking the woman to tilt her head slightly. Was he hoping to capture something essential about her, or was it more about the play of light and shadow? The high contrast makes the woman’s dress almost disappear into the darkness. She seems so contained, like a vessel holding something back. It reminds me of some of those old master paintings where the sitter is both present and absent, caught between worlds. Photography has always been a conversation with painting, with photographers learning from and pushing against the traditions of portraiture. This image is a quiet, still moment, an embodied expression that embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations.