Portret van een militair in uniform met een hond voor een deur 1941 - 1945

This photo, taken by an anonymous artist, captures a soldier with his dog in front of a doorway. It’s a pretty straightforward composition, and I’m always drawn to the way that simple images can reveal so much about the time in which they were created. There’s a textural quality to the print, almost a grainy feel to the surface, and this adds to the mood, the quietness of the scene. The grey tones create a sense of distance, like looking back through time. You can see the mark of the photographer in the blurring of the background and the slightly soft focus on the figures. It’s these small details, the slightly imperfect areas of the image, that give it character, and allow you to really sense the hand of the artist. It makes me think of other photographers of that era, say someone like Walker Evans, and the way they would capture ordinary moments as a means of reflecting the realities of everyday life. Maybe art isn't always about answers, but about encouraging us to see the world, and each other, with a little more curiosity.