Portret van baby Tiny Kleiterp in een tuin in Pangka op Java 1921

Klaas Kleiterp made this black and white photograph of baby Tiny in a garden in Pangka, Java. I wonder if it was hard for Kleiterp to capture the baby's likeness. I can imagine all the failed attempts as he was waiting for the perfect shot. Did he have an idea of the portrait he wanted to create? What did he want to convey? The light is diffuse; the textures are soft. There is a feeling of coolness and calm that seeps out from the image. The baby is sitting under a tree, and the whole composition is enveloped in a soft silvery grey hue. The choice of monochrome really contributes to the ethereal mood, doesn't it? We can see how artists, through photography and painting, are in an ongoing conversation, exchanging ideas across time, inspiring one another's creativity. Painting, like photography, is a form of embodied expression that embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning.