Portret van een onbekende communicant c. 1910 - 1930

This is a small photographic portrait by J. le Bris of an unknown communicant. It's a formal shot. The kid is decked out in his communion gear. I imagine J. le Bris setting up the shot, fiddling with the light, arranging the young boy next to the prayer stool. There’s something touchingly awkward about the whole setup. The surface is smooth, almost ghostly. It gives the image a dreamy quality, like a memory fading at the edges. You can almost smell the church incense and feel the weight of expectation on the boy's shoulders. The lighting is soft, probably natural light diffused through a window, which softens the details. It makes me think about how photography, like painting, can be a form of portraiture, capturing not just a likeness but also a mood or a feeling. J. le Bris is engaging with a broader tradition of image-making, echoing the somber portraits of earlier eras but through a modern lens. The image feels quiet, reflective, and timeless.