Drie foto's van Caty van den Wall Bake en Willy Onnen in een tuin en op het strand van Scheveningen 1911 - 1917

Carolina Onnen captured these three photographs of Caty van den Wall Bake and Willy Onnen in a garden and on the beach of Scheveningen in what looks like a casual but carefully composed moment. The sepia tones of the photographs give everything a soft, dreamy quality, which softens the edges of the images. Looking at the photographs, I’m struck by their texture. They are fixed to the dark paper of the album, and have handwritten annotations beneath them. In the upper right image a torn piece of paper obscures part of the subjects. It gives the piece a sense of time passing, a history of being looked at and handled. They’re not just images; they're objects. The way the light falls, especially in the beach scene, is amazing. It’s diffused and almost makes the figures look like they're glowing. It reminds me a little of the Impressionists, especially someone like Berthe Morisot, who was great at capturing the fleeting moments of light and everyday life. Onnen, like Morisot, seems interested in capturing a feeling, an atmosphere, rather than just a likeness. It’s like she’s saying, “Here’s a moment, a feeling, a little bit of life.” And that’s what makes it so beautiful.