Studioportret van een onbekende vrouw voor een stalen buisstoel after 1927

This is a small photograph by Steenmeijer, in the Rijksmuseum, of an unknown woman and a tubular steel chair. You can tell it's a studio portrait, the soft, grey gradations of tone almost like the strokes of a brush. It's a carefully constructed image but it's also caught something candid and real. The sheen on the woman's shoes is an interesting detail, it draws the eye and gives depth. The way the light reflects seems to animate them, as if they might be about to move. There's a dialogue going on between the figure and the functional object that they're posed with, the contrast between the organic and the angular giving a certain dynamism to the piece. It reminds me of the New Objectivity movement in Germany in the interwar period, artists like Otto Dix trying to capture a changing world with a sharp focus. What's interesting here is the way Steenmeijer has adopted this almost clinical style to create a softer, more intimate piece.