Alphons Diepenbrock zittend op stoel c. 1895 - 1925

Here's a photographic negative, by W.G. Hondius van den Broek, showing Alphons Diepenbrock sitting in a chair. The image is almost entirely white, but in negative, so the shadows and dark areas are what create form and contrast, much like painting with light. Look closely, and you’ll see the texture of the paper itself; the way the light interacts with the slightly uneven surface gives it a subtle, almost painterly quality. The artist seems to have caught Diepenbrock in a moment of contemplation, a pose both intimate and revealing. I'm drawn to the way his head is rendered, the way the light and shadow describe the volume of his skull, the curve of his cheek, the set of his mouth. This process reminds me of the work of painters like Gerhard Richter, who use photography as a starting point for their paintings, blurring the line between representation and abstraction. And like Richter, this photograph seems to embrace ambiguity, inviting us to project our own thoughts and feelings onto the image.