Ernst Haeckel 1910

This is a photograph of Ernst Haeckel, by Nicola Perscheid, but it’s also a meditation on aging, a character study, a landscape of the face. Just imagine Perscheid setting up his camera, adjusting the light, and then waiting. What was he trying to capture? Was he thinking about those crinkles around the eyes, the deep furrows on the forehead, that vast, wild beard? I bet they talked about light and shadows, about how to make a two-dimensional surface feel like it's breathing. It's all soft focus and subtle gradations, but it’s also super sharp. He has this huge hat that looks like a shadow thrown over the top of his head, drawing our eyes down and into the details. And then there's the feeling, that solemn feeling of two artists, one the sitter, one the photographer, trying to make something that lasts, something that says, ‘I was here.’