Untitled 1929

Werner Rohde made this gelatin silver print, of a doll. He probably worked in a darkroom using light and chemicals, trial and error, to coax the image into being. I can imagine him looking through the lens, focusing and adjusting, trying to capture something about this doll, maybe the way light falls across its face, or the dark, vacant eyes. What was he thinking when he clicked the shutter? Was he exploring childhood? Or the uncanny? The black and white tones give the photograph a timeless feel. Look closely at the texture. You can almost feel the smoothness of the doll's porcelain face, the soft fabric of its clothes, the wispy texture of its hair. It reminds me of other artists, like Hans Bellmer, who used dolls to explore ideas about the body and representation. We artists are always having a conversation with each other, even across time. Each artwork embraces ambiguity. It invites us to bring our own interpretations.