Portret van een onbekende man met snor 1897 - 1906

This photographic portrait of an unknown man with a moustache was made by Adriaan Boer sometime between 1875 and 1940, the artist's lifetime. I can imagine Boer carefully arranging the lighting in his studio, coaxing his sitter to relax, maybe even crack a smile. The man's moustache, so carefully groomed, tells me this was someone who paid attention to detail. I wonder, did he twirl the ends in the mirror each morning? Boer's choice of a muted palette focuses my attention on the man's features. There is a realness here, an attempt to capture something essential about this person, a desire to fix a moment in time. I see echoes of other portraitists who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists who were fascinated by the human face and its capacity to reveal character. We're all in conversation, riffing off each other’s ideas, adding our own little twists. It's a beautiful, messy, ongoing exchange.