Portret van vijf onbekende mannen in uniform Possibly 1914

This sepia photograph of five uniformed men, made by American Automatic Fotografie, it’s like a little window into another time. The automatic photography process—so different from our immediate digital images today—gives a muted, almost dreamy quality to the scene. Look closely, and you’ll notice the texture, not just of the print itself but how it captures the fabric of their uniforms, the slight sheen on their boots. The light catches the edges of their hats, emphasizing their serious expressions. There’s a stiffness to their pose, yet you can feel the weight of the moment. I’m drawn to the man seated in the front left. The composition is a little bit like a Courbet, except the men are more bourgeois. He’s self-possessed, serious. He’s a character in a lost story. It feels like a conversation, ideas exchanged, across time. Like, what are they thinking? We’ll never know.