Portret van een onbekende jonge man before 1918

This portrait of an unknown young man was made with an automatic camera at an unknown date. It’s fascinating how even in something as seemingly straightforward as an old photo, the process leaves its mark. Look closely, and you'll notice the imperfections, those little scratches and subtle shifts in tone. They’re not flaws, but rather the traces of time, the fingerprints of the machine itself. The greyscale of the image gives the picture a feeling of nostalgia and distance. Consider the young man's gaze, the way he looks into the lens, trying to hold his expression steady. There is something so vulnerable in this frozen moment. This makes me think of the portraits by August Sander, who also captured a range of individuals with such honesty. These pictures remind us that art is always a conversation, a back-and-forth between artist, subject, and viewer, across time and space.