Naakte jongen met toorts before 1916

This photogravure of a ‘Naked boy with torch’ was made by Adelaide Hanscom Leeson, though when exactly, we're not sure. What gets me about this piece is the tonal range - the way she teases out light and shade. It’s so delicate. It's a very tactile piece, even though it's a photograph. The circle enclosing the boy has a texture, almost like something you'd run your fingers over, like those patterns you find on old china. The edges are kind of soft and blurry, which makes it feel almost like a drawing. Then there’s the boy’s skin, all soft shadows and delicate modeling, which contrasts so nicely with the bold lines of the frame. If you look closely, you’ll see how the light catches on his shoulder, or the curve of his leg. This image reminds me of a work by Gertrude Käsebier. It’s that same interest in capturing something vulnerable and intimate, a moment of fleeting beauty, that feels very much of that time. Art isn’t about answers, right? It's about these questions, these explorations, and I find myself constantly drawn back to this image.