Portret van een onbekende vrouw before 1901

This portrait of an unknown woman was made by William Buckingham Dyer, but we don’t know exactly when. I love the limited palette, the way Dyer coaxes so much from so little. It feels like a sepia dream, a whisper of a memory. The photograph’s surface has a soft, almost tactile quality. You can almost feel the texture of the paper, like old skin, fragile and precious. Look at the way the light catches the woman's cheekbone, the subtle gradations of tone that define her profile. Dyer's attention to detail is really beautiful, and the way he uses light and shadow makes the portrait so intimate. It’s like a conversation, quiet and intense. I think of early photography, but also the drawings of someone like Holbein. Art is just a big conversation, after all, a way of seeing and feeling that gets passed on. Art is about asking questions, not giving answers, and this portrait leaves me with a sense of wonder and maybe a little bit of longing.