Portret van een man met snor 1884 - 1913

Curator: Good day, everyone, and welcome. Today, we’re pausing before a photograph in the Rijksmuseum’s collection titled “Portret van een man met snor” or, more plainly, "Portrait of a Man with a Moustache". This fascinating print is attributed to Adolphe Zimmermans and is estimated to have been created between 1884 and 1913. Editor: Well, my first impression is…this fellow looks quite serious, doesn’t he? The sepia tone lends this photo such a sense of solemnity. It's hard to tell what he was thinking at that exact moment the photographer said, "Smile!". I wonder about all that vanished laughter and frivolity hidden in archives. Curator: Precisely! It's easy to look past these photographs when our museums and archives are crammed with artwork after artwork. If we hone in on the formal aspects, there's plenty to consider. He is placed squarely in the center of an oval frame; notice how the photographer composed the subject so meticulously to utilize symmetry. I find it’s interesting how Zimmermans chose the framing; he is neither looking left nor right but maintains the gaze and captures the subject so cleanly. Editor: I concur. In my estimation, the stern, symmetrical composure might point toward themes regarding male expectations during that time. As much as a posed, curated facade such as a moustache might give way to a personal sentiment of pride, the symmetry does indicate that this is an outward portrayal of conformity and respectability. One thing I always wonder is what we might find if we remove this figure from his formal composition: who might he truly have been? Curator: What strikes me about historical portraiture—photographic or otherwise—is how they can sometimes tell us more about ourselves. Even through staged realism and formality, we manage to seek and even unearth that missing puzzle piece. We often can't help but cast our imaginations to ponder the sitter. Editor: Right you are. Looking at how stiff everything feels is enough to encourage speculation of this individual, trapped in the frame of time itself, despite the very life lived on after he departed. Curator: Thanks for joining us, everyone. Take a lingering look and let your own imagination fill in the rest of the story! Editor: And maybe consider growing a really spectacular moustache.