Reproductie van een geschilderd portret van Neeltje Willemsdr. Zuytbrouck 1906 - 1907

This tiny reproduction of a painted portrait of Neeltje Willemsdr. Zuytbrouck, now at the Rijksmuseum, really captures my eye. I find myself thinking about the nature of representation here, how a painting becomes a photo, becomes a small image on a postcard maybe. The image is mostly dark and light greys, almost like a ghostly apparition, but the face is clear. Look at the subject’s left hand, positioned near her throat; it's almost luminous. I wonder if the artist was trying to guide the viewer’s eye, or if it was simply a result of the printing process. The whole thing gives me the feeling that the anonymous artist might have been thinking about mortality. It makes me think about the work of Vija Celmins, who also reproduced images in a very labor intensive way. Like Vija, this artist is interested in the way that images can be both real and abstract at the same time. Art is such an ongoing game of telephone.