Portret van een vrouw 1880 - 1940

This silver gelatin print of a woman’s portrait by H.L. Laurence is small enough to hold in your hand, a little bigger than a matchbox. Looking at her, I wonder what it was like to be a photographer then, carefully posing people, capturing their likeness. It's intimate, this act of looking and recording. The woman's gaze is direct, but there’s softness in the light, a gentle way of seeing. I bet Laurence thought a lot about how to bring out her best self. It makes me think about my own work, how I try to capture a feeling, an essence, in a brushstroke. We’re all just trying to see each other, aren’t we? Artists, photographers, all in conversation across time.