Portret van een jonge vrouw, aangeduid als Winny 1912

Carolina Onnen made this sepia photograph of Winny, a young woman in a high collared blouse. There’s a gentle smokiness to the tones, as if the artist were as interested in how the image might fade over time as what it shows in the present. The sepia tone gives everything a feeling of soft focus. The background details are obscure and Winny’s face is slightly blurred. This feels so intimate, as though we are invited into Onnen’s personal world. I wonder if they used a soft brush when developing the photograph, or gently applied the chemicals with a sponge. The blurred effect lends it a tactile quality. In the lower part of the image Winny's name has been written on the green page in a dark ink. Like a signature, it lends a personal and intimate aspect to the portrait. It reminds me of the work of Gertrude Käsebier, another photographer working at the start of the 20th century, who also sought to imbue her portraits with a painterly quality. Neither give us fixed or definitive meanings, instead offering us a sense of possibility.