Portret van Johanna Geertruida Jonker 1911

This photographic portrait of Johanna Geertruida Jonker by Franz Eiffert shows us a lady in Amsterdam long ago. I think about all the other artists in that time doing portraiture in an attempt to understand who someone is. When I look at this photograph, I feel a strong connection to the history of painting. There's this way that painters try to capture a likeness, a spark of life. It's like a dance between what's visible and what's felt, and what's known and unknown. Eiffert probably had to do so much editing and shaping in the darkroom to bring out just the right tone, the right mood. You can see the dark lines of the circle around the image, containing it. Think about someone like Alice Neel, who was trying to capture the emotional interior of her subjects. It’s an attempt to get at something real beyond the surface. That's what all these artists are in conversation about, right? Trying to get at the human condition through their own means and practices.