Portret van een onbekende vrouw before 1901

This is a black and white photograph of an unknown woman by Edward Steichen. Looking at the grainy image, I wonder what he felt making this portrait. Did he know her? The woman’s face is soft and blurred around the edges, so I'm thinking about process. Was he trying to capture her essence? Or was he playing around with the camera, trying to capture the light? Maybe he had a vision for how she would look and worked the focus to make the portrait soft. What's visible suggests what's invisible. The woman’s eyes are closed, so she appears to be in a state of reverie or contemplation. I'm thinking she might be dreaming about something. Maybe she's a model thinking of the artist and what he's hoping to capture. What is being revealed? And what remains hidden? Photography, like painting, is a constant process of discovery and invention.