Untitled (portrait of woman in hat and suit, leaning on elbow) c. 1940

This portrait of a woman in a hat and suit, leaning on her elbow, was made by Paul Gittings, but when, how, and why, is a bit of a mystery. It's from a photographic negative, which reverses light and dark. Look how the light catches her hat, almost like a halo, and the way her gaze seems to hold a secret. Photography, like painting, has a physical presence. Here, you can almost feel the cool, smooth surface of the negative, the way the light etches the image into the material. The hand with a ring is particularly striking, a detail that brings the whole piece together. It’s as if she’s inviting you into a conversation, or maybe daring you to figure her out. This piece reminds me a little of Diane Arbus, another artist who used photography to explore the hidden stories of her subjects. Art is like that, an ongoing conversation across time, inviting us to look closer, to question, and to find our own meanings in the ambiguity.