Portret van Wies de Raaf 1905

This is a portrait of Wies de Raaf by Stephanus Adrianus Schotel. Looking at the tonal range, I imagine the artist playing with shades of grey, watching the image slowly come into focus. I sympathize with Schotel, trying to capture a likeness, and thinking about how the subject wants to be seen, and how he wants to portray her. It must have been a slow process working between the camera and the subject. I wonder if he saw a kinship between the darks and lights of the room and those of the image he was making. I am drawn to the subtle variations in tone. How was the paper treated to achieve the soft, almost ethereal effect? I think of other artists, maybe like Gerhard Richter, who also used photography to create an atmosphere. This piece reminds us that artists are in conversation across time, responding to and inspiring one another’s creativity.