Untitled (twin girls in matching outfits on porch, standing and sitting against column) after 1940

This photograph of twin girls was taken by Paul Gittings, but when and with what, we do not know! The soft, silvery tones of the photograph are so gentle, like a whispered secret. I find myself drawn to the girl who is sitting, her body mirroring the curve of the column behind her. Look at the subtle gradations of gray in the background foliage, how they blur and soften, in contrast to the crisp lines of the architecture and the girls’ matching outfits. It’s almost as if Gittings is using the focus to tell us something about their personalities. There’s a stillness, a quiet intensity in their gaze, that reminds me of the work of Diane Arbus. Both photographers seem to capture a certain melancholy and vulnerability in their subjects, a fleeting moment of truth. And that is what makes this image, and others like it, so compelling. Like all good art, it encourages us to see the world in a new way.