Portret van een staande vrouw bij een stoel 1897 - 1920

Here is a portrait of a standing woman by E. Uhlenhuth, using—well, it’s a photograph! The tones are muted, mostly greys and creams. The woman is looking at us directly, with a gaze that feels both confident and a little sad. I’m wondering, what was it like for Uhlenhuth to capture this image? Did they chat? Did they carefully pose the woman by the chair, adjusting the light, telling her to look just so? As a painter, I know that sometimes a portrait can feel like a dance – a back-and-forth between artist and subject. The soft focus gives the image a dreamlike quality. The lace collar, the delicate fingers resting on the chair—they all point to a certain kind of elegance and poise. You can see that Uhlenhuth was not only trying to make a likeness of the woman but also hinting at a larger story, an emotion. And in the end, isn’t that what all art is trying to do?