Portret van een onbekende vrouw naast een hek before 1896

Editor: We're looking at "Portret van een onbekende vrouw naast een hek," which translates to "Portrait of an unknown woman next to a fence," a print made before 1896 by Sosthène Pector. The image feels very posed and a bit melancholic, don't you think? What jumps out at you when you look at it? Curator: It whispers stories, doesn't it? Immediately I'm drawn to the soft focus and the almost painterly quality. It’s more than a simple record of a woman by a fence; it’s an evocation of a mood, a feeling. Notice how the details fade around the edges, almost like a memory fading. Doesn’t it make you wonder what she’s thinking? Or better yet, who *we* think she is, as she gazes into the camera, or maybe, she looks beyond… Editor: That softness is definitely what struck me too. So, this pre-dates 1900, so why this conscious decision to have soft focus rather than perfect sharp focus. Curator: Photography at this time, Pictorialism it’s often called, sought to elevate itself to the status of fine art, aligning itself with painting. Sharp focus was seen as too clinical, too objective. These artists wanted to imprint their own vision, their own sensibility onto the image. It makes you think about intent doesn't it? About art that *moves*? It also softens what may have seemed hard edges. A woman and a fence can now become something other, through a soft caress... Editor: So it's almost rejecting photography's claim to pure objectivity. I didn't know photography could be so impressionistic! Curator: Exactly! And isn't that thrilling? To discover these hidden conversations, these forgotten ambitions within art? It enriches our understanding. It’s a portal, beckoning. Editor: Absolutely. Thanks.