Portret van directeur Dürr 1924

This photograph of Dr. Dürr, director of the airship shipyard, is by an anonymous artist. It’s hard to say when exactly it was made, but the sepia tones and formality suggest an earlier time. The greyscale palette makes you focus on the subject’s features and the details around him. You can almost smell the paper of those documents! The texture is smooth, but there’s a richness in the shadows, like a film noir. Notice the slight blur, which softens the image and adds an air of mystery. It almost has a painterly quality, not like a perfectly sharp photograph. I find this ambiguity compelling. The light gently illuminates his face, but it’s not too harsh. You can see a certain seriousness in his eyes. Like a portrait by Holbein, the focus is on the sitter and his status, rather than the artist's expressive gestures. But in a way, that distance is a choice, too. The absence of the artist's hand is a kind of presence.