Drie groepsportretten van Willy en Loentje Onnen met de kinderen Uhlenbeck, Hilversum 1909 - 1912

These three group portraits of Willy and Loentje Onnen with the children Uhlenbeck, were made in Hilversum, possibly with a camera, sometime around December 1909. What strikes me most is how the sepia tones evoke a sense of nostalgia, like a faded memory trying to hold onto its clarity. The surface texture tells a story of time, with its subtle imperfections and ghostly figures. There is a sense of formality, which comes from the people posing, but the light itself makes it very dreamlike. If you look closely at the bottom left frame, you’ll notice a man in a suit and bow-tie; the details there, like the shiny jacket, ground the image and make it feel like a real moment in time. This work reminds me of artists like Gerhard Richter, whose blurred photographs explore the relationship between memory and representation. This piece shows us that art embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations rather than fixed meanings.