Portret van Grietje Groot 1908 - 1915

This is Johannes Laurens Theodorus Huijsen’s “Portret van Grietje Groot,” a portrait made with photography sometime in the late 19th century. The photo is softly rendered, all gentle gradations and faded blacks, like a memory. Look how the edges of the figure almost dissolve into the pale background. It gives the image a dreamy, ethereal quality. It’s like trying to hold onto a feeling, the edges always slipping away. I think about how photography, in its early days, was often used to capture a likeness, a record of someone's existence. But here, Huijsen seems less interested in capturing a precise image, and more interested in something moodier and more ambiguous. It reminds me of the work of Julia Margaret Cameron, who used soft focus and experimental techniques to create portraits that were full of emotion and feeling. Both artists were less interested in capturing a perfect likeness and more invested in exploring the inner lives of their subjects. Ultimately, art is about opening up possibilities, not closing them down.