Portret van twee onbekende jonge vrouwen 1898 - 1907

This portrait of two young women, probably made at the turn of the century, maybe late 1890s, is a photograph presented in a decorative metal frame of leaves and flowers. The first thing you notice is this beautiful handmade frame that seems to sprout from the surface, like the image is growing from the wall. Up close, the leaves are really something. Look at the way the paint is built up to create texture, layers of mossy green over a bronze color. It’s so clear that someone's hand was involved in every bit of this object. This tension between the mechanical and the handmade, between capturing a moment and embellishing it with craft, it makes me think about other artists who blur the lines between materials and techniques, like the collages of Hannah Höch. This piece shows that art is as much about the choices we make as it is about the subjects we choose to represent.