Untitled (portrait of woman in floral dress and hat with lace and flowers) after 1940

Paul Gittings made this vintage gelatin silver print, an untitled portrait of a woman, sometime in the twentieth century. What strikes me is the way Gittings uses light to almost sculpt the subject's face. It's like he's painting with light, carefully shaping the contours of her cheeks and the curve of her smile. The floral dress and hat add to the sense of texture, all these tiny repeated motifs playing off the smooth expanses of her skin. The details feel very tactile. Look at the way the lace catches the light! It's almost as if you could reach out and touch it, feel the delicate weave of the fabric. Gittings brings to mind artists like Irving Penn, who also elevated portraiture to an art form, finding beauty in the everyday and turning the photographic image into something timeless. This piece is less about a specific likeness and more about a mood, a feeling, and a moment captured in time.