Crayons, most populair between 1880 and 1920, are retouched enlargements of a (retouched) negative, for which airbrush, paint, varnish, pencils, chalk and abrasives were used to create an idealized portrait. Sometimes the retouching went so far that all human traits vanished and facial expressions became as rigid as the robots in Wanda Tuerlinckx's portraits. Side by side, these androids (made all over the world with Tuerlinckx's 19th century camera) look like close relatives.
Dutch National Portrait Gallery
18 March - 29 May 2022
