Portret van een man met snor en sik 1884 - 1900

Adolphe Zimmermans captured this man in a photograph of diminutive scale. The subject's carefully groomed mustache and beard, fashionable for the time, speak to a self-conscious presentation of identity. Consider the beard throughout history—from ancient symbols of virility and wisdom to its later association with philosophers and revolutionaries. Think of figures like Zeus or the Old Testament prophets, their beards signifying power and divine favor. The mustache and beard, however, have gone through countless transformations. The mustache, in particular, has been used to convey a spectrum of cultural meanings, from the iconic handlebar of the Wild West to its adoption by figures of authority and rebellion. What primal memory and projection do we have of this man through the lens of the symbols that he wears on his face? This photographic portrait serves as a small, but telling marker of how identity is both constructed and perceived through cultural symbolism.