Portret van een jonge vrouw 1890 - 1918

This portrait of a young woman was made by J. Siewers & Zoon and I love how this work makes visible the physical and chemical processes that comprise photography. Look at how the light seems to dissolve her form into the background. It’s a reminder that photographs aren’t so much about capturing a fixed likeness, as they are about capturing light, and change. The sepia tone lends the whole image a warm, nostalgic glow, which is just gorgeous. Take a look at the way the edges of the frame have aged, and how the image on the left has faded. It feels like a reminder of how photographs change and degrade over time, making each print a unique moment. It’s easy to see the influence of someone like Gerhard Richter in this piece, who used similar techniques of blurring and defacing photographs in his paintings. It shows that art is an ongoing conversation between artists across time. It's about embracing the ambiguities and multiple interpretations.