Portret van twee onbekende vrouwen met hoeden 1905 - 1907

This is a miniature portrait of two women with hats by Miniature Portrait Studios. What I find curious about this image is how the women seem captured, almost pinned, inside the oval space, set against the grey cardboard ornamented with delicate gilded vegetal motifs. ‘Best Wishes’ are written alongside in cursive, and the hats are amazing. I imagine the photographer might have been thinking about the need to make a beautiful keepsake. I can imagine that the women were thinking about projecting an image of themselves as respectable, maybe sophisticated. I can only imagine the hats were a real declaration of independence, a form of self-expression. There's something poignant about these two anonymous figures captured in a world that is so different from our own, and yet, their gestures and expressions are strangely familiar, making me wonder about the stories they might tell us if they could only speak.