Hendrik Kerstens Art

The famous Dutch painter’s works that Kerstens’s photographs resemble is Johannes Vermeer. Since 1995, Dutch photographer Hendrik Kerstens has been photographing his daughter, Paula. A number of the portraits of Paula are clearly reminiscent of Vermeer’s paintings. The austerity of the photographs, their clarity and the characteristic "Dutch" light all combine to create this impression. However, Kerstens was not just imitating the paintings. As the series progressed, he became increasingly interested in the game of creating a conceptual and humorous dialogue between the past and present. The titles give the game away. Napkin looks like a maid's bonnet. In Bag, a plastic grocery bag is shaped to look like a lace hood. In other pictures, no pretense is made to imitate 17th-century clothing, but Paula's face and Kerstens's light turn a thoroughly modern hoodie into a classic and timeless garment. Conceptually, Kerstens's photographs play with the relationship between painting and photography, including with seriality and time. On 1stDibs, explore a selection of Hendrik Kerstens art.