Else Wachenheimer-Moos in de openlucht tijdens haar verlovingstijd, 1920-1922, Duitsland 1920 - 1922

This photograph of Else Wachenheimer-Moos was taken outdoors during her engagement, sometime between 1920 and 1922 in Germany, by a member of the Wachenheimer family. What strikes me is the contrast between the crispness of the photographic print and the loose, almost dreamy quality of the handwritten text surrounding it. Look at how the text dances around the edges, it feels so intuitive, almost as if it’s sketching out the emotions tied to this moment. It makes me wonder what kind of brush they used, and how quickly they wrote. Was it a deliberate and careful process, or a spontaneous overflow of affection? And then there's the photograph itself – a moment frozen in time, so stark in its black and white tones. Maybe this image is not about capturing a perfect likeness, but about trying to understand the experience of being alive in that moment. Thinking about artists like Gerhard Richter, and how he uses photography in his painting, reminds me that art is always in conversation with itself, across generations and mediums. Is this a photograph or a photorealistic drawing? Does it matter? What does this mean to you?