Portret van een zittende man met sik Possibly 1905

This is "Portret van een zittende man met sik," a photograph made by Ferdinand Buyle sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. What strikes me is the subtle play of light and shadow, like gentle brushstrokes. It's a grayscale image, but within that range, Buyle finds a whole world of tones, drawing attention to the textures and shapes within the scene. Look at the way the light falls across the man’s face, his forehead gleaming, drawing your eye to the depths of his expression. The photograph captures a moment frozen in time. There’s a kind of intimacy and vulnerability, a contrast between the formality of the pose and the undeniable humanity of the sitter. Buyle’s work reminds me a little of Nadar, another portrait photographer from a slightly earlier generation. Like Nadar, Buyle uses the relative new medium of photography to capture a sense of psychological depth in his sitter. Both artists use their craft to investigate the depths of human character.