Portret van Johanna Geertruida Jonker 1900 - 1907

Here's the portrait of Johanna Geertruida Jonker, captured by Johan Christiaan Reesinck. It's not paint, but a photograph, so a different kind of gesture. Think about the sepia tone, that soft focus and the quiet stillness of the pose. I’m trying to imagine what it would have been like to be Reesinck. Arranging the set, choosing the light, directing Johanna in how to pose. Did he have to hold really still for a long exposure, willing his subject to be patient? It's a different kind of mark-making, not the swipe of a brush, but the click of a shutter. And yet, both are attempts to capture a moment, a feeling, a truth. It reminds us that even within the limitations of a medium—be it paint or photography—there's always room for a conversation between artist and subject, between past and present. We, the viewers, are invited to interpret this image in our own way.