Portret van een man met snor, baard en vlinderstrik 1895 - 1920

This photographic portrait, author unknown, captures a man with a mustache, beard, and bow tie. The process of making a photograph is alchemical and transformative. I imagine the photographer Gustaf Lesser in the darkroom with a glass plate negative, mixing chemicals and using light to create a latent image on paper. The man appears to be in his middle age. Look at the way he has carefully styled his facial hair. What was he thinking when he sat for the picture? It is interesting to think about what he was like. There’s something about the formality of portraiture that speaks of an era when having your picture taken was a special event, a way of marking a moment in time and solidifying identity through an image. Just look at him! Photographers and painters are in an ongoing conversation with one another. Lesser’s work makes me think of all the portrait paintings I have seen over the years. It reminds us of the power of images to communicate across time.