Portret van een vrouw in klederdracht, vermoedelijk van Katwijk 1908 - 1912

Willem Bongenaar made this small portrait of a woman, likely from Katwijk, using photography around the turn of the last century. Look at the soft focus and sepia tones; it's like Bongenaar is reaching for something beyond the purely representational. I wonder what it was like for him to pose this woman in her traditional clothing. Was he trying to capture a disappearing way of life, or was there something more personal at stake? Perhaps he admired the patterns of her clothing, the details of the bonnet, and the cut of the ribbon at her chest, which he translated into tonal relations. It reminds me how much photography, like painting, is about seeing and feeling. Bongenaar wasn't just documenting; he was communicating. Artists are in a constant dialogue across time, inspiring each other to see the world in new ways. There’s always room for multiple readings.