Portret van een vrouw met een geplooid jasje en een versierd boord 1913 - 1922

Adolphe Zimmermans made this portrait of a woman with a pleated jacket and decorated collar, though we don't know exactly when or with what materials. There’s something really fascinating about the material reality of old photographs like this. It's like, what are photographs anyway? They're so ghostly and ethereal, and yet they're also physical objects. This photograph is faded to near monochrome and presented within an oval mount, and it reminds us that image-making is always a process of selection and reduction. The woman’s collar is subtly highlighted with a delicate looping design. It’s a small detail, but it speaks volumes about the care and attention that went into the picture. It reminds me of the work of Gertrude Käsebier, another photographer who explored similar themes of femininity and domesticity. Both artists were part of an ongoing conversation about what it means to be a woman, and how images can construct our perceptions.