Negen portretten uit de familiekring van George Hendrik Breitner en Marie Jordan c. 1912 - 1920

This mounted photographic print shows nine family portraits; it’s an anonymous work. And I find myself wondering, what kind of conversation was happening in the studio when this was made? I imagine the photographer moving around people, instructing them on where to look and how to pose. It must have been a slow, deliberate process. Like building up layers in a painting, each click of the shutter adds another element to the story. And what were they thinking, these people in the portraits? Were they nervous, excited, or maybe a little bored? What does it mean to have your picture taken? Especially then. Looking at the whole set of portraits together, they create this grid-like structure which flattens the figures within their frames. Just like a painter organizes shapes and colors on a canvas, the photographer creates a composition with faces and bodies. Like brushstrokes, each portrait adds texture and depth to the overall image. There is a painterly quality to the presentation, a conversation between posing and place.