Portret van een onbekende prostituee met een glas whiskey 1911 - 1970

This silver gelatin print of an unknown prostitute with a glass of whiskey was made by Ernest James Bellocq, sometime in the early 20th century. The tones range from deep blacks to cloudy greys, an amazing range for a simple black and white photograph. The process seems straightforward, the kind of thing anyone could do, but that’s the deceptive thing about a great artwork, right? The photograph has a sharp focus, yet the composition is more interesting to me. It is the off-center placement of the subject, her gaze, and the dark patches around the edges of the print, as though the image itself were still developing. The woman has such a charming, almost mischievous expression. The stripes of her stockings lead the eye up and around her body, eventually meeting the other objects that inhabit her space. It reminds me a little bit of some of the portraits by Nan Goldin, though of course, Bellocq came first. It's all about how a person uses a particular medium to explore time, space, and the possibilities of representation.