Portret van Johannes Pieter Roetert Tak van Poortvliet 1904 - 1906

This portrait of Johannes Pieter Roetert Tak van Poortvliet was made by Johannes Walter, though it’s not dated, it was likely made with the help of a printing press. You can really get a sense of the artist’s mark making here. The portrait is rendered in incredible detail using only black ink on white paper, or at least it appears that way at first glance. The lines feel very intentional, creating a kind of visual texture across the whole surface. Take a look at the dark, almost velvety textures of the subject’s jacket, and then notice how the artist contrasts this with the bright, smooth plane of the face. The portrait reminds me of the work of someone like Chuck Close, who was interested in creating detailed images through the layering of small marks and shapes. The final image invites us to consider the relationship between the surface and depth, abstraction and representation, and fixed versus fluid meanings.