Twee foto's van Abraham Dudok van Heel, op éénjarige leeftijd 1919

These two photographs of Abraham Dudok van Heel, at one year old, were mounted on card by an anonymous photographer sometime around 1919. The limited grayscale gives the scene a dreamlike quality, emphasizing the textures and surfaces – the soft fabrics, the sharp edges of the garden foliage, and the slightly rough surface of the mounting card. In the left photograph, Abraham is sitting in front of a porch on someone's lap. The light falling across the porch and the figures creates sharp contrasts and a sense of depth, drawing my eye to the rail and the figures. Thinking about the physicality of photography from this time, I wonder about the photographer's process: how did they frame the shots, what considerations did they make when they composed their images? I'm reminded of Eugène Atget, who approached photography as a process of documentation, but in his case it was Parisan architecture and street life. Like all art, this work is a conversation with the past, present, and future. What do you see?