Portret van een onbekende vrouw met een boek in de hand 1900 - 1920

Johannes Gerard Middendorp made this small portrait of an unknown woman with a book, using the photographic techniques available to him at the time. The sepia tones are soft, blurring the lines of her form. It's like memory itself—hazy edges around a solid core. The surface of the photograph is matte. This reminds me of working with gouache, where the colors settle into themselves. Her dress has some intricate patterning picked out with an almost imperceptible change in tone. I find myself thinking about how that small detail draws my eye into a deeper consideration of her dress. This feels similar to the work of someone like Anna Atkins, who documented botanical specimens with cyanotypes. Both artists share a concern for the careful and precise recording of a subject, letting the chemistry of their chosen medium play its part in the final work. In art, like in life, fixed meanings can be overrated.