Sonder

A gouache portrait of a young man shown from the chest up against a deep-blue background patterned with small stars. His face is painted in pale purple, with darker blue and violet modelling around the eyes, nose and jaw. His hair and narrow moustache are dark green, giving the portrait an intentionally unreal colour palette. The date 14/6/1915 appears in gold within the painting, referring to the date on the source photograph. The brushwork is visible and painterly rather than photographic, transforming the original sitter into a more invented, theatrical figure.

A gouache double portrait of two young boys shown close together, their heads touching. The younger boy is on the left and has a green face; the older boy is on the right and has a light sepia-toned face. Both wear red sailor jackets with blue buttons and pale-blue collars. Behind them is a gold background patterned with turquoise flower stalks. The stylised colours and visible brushwork move the image away from photographic likeness and into a more invented, decorative register.

A sepia studio portrait of two young men shown from the chest up, dressed in dark suits and white shirts. They lean their heads gently toward one another, creating an intimate, closely paired composition. Motte is on the left and Itche on the right. The photograph has no inscription on the reverse, which is consistent with other immediate-family photographs in the album where identification may not have seemed necessary at the time.

A sepia studio portrait of two young women seated closely side by side. Both face the camera, their shoulders nearly touching, in a formal studio pose. Taube — also known as Tavi or Topke — is on the left. The reverse of the postcard contains a handwritten Yiddish dedication identifying the women as Rebecca Achtman and Tavi Tzimmerman and addressing the recipient as “dear uncle.” The pairing of portrait and inscription turns the photograph into both an image and a fragment of family correspondence.

A gouache portrait of a young man shown from the chest up. His face is painted in turquoise and purple, with orange hair and small gold pince-nez perched on his nose. He wears a dark jacket and white shirt. Behind him is a vivid pink ground patterned with stylised flowers and leaves. The palette is deliberately heightened and decorative, transforming the formal pose of the source photograph into something more theatrical and imagined.

A dark sepia studio portrait of a young man in formal dress, leaning forward over the back of a wicker chair. His body is angled toward the camera and his expression is direct and composed. Beside the portrait is the reverse of the postcard, covered with a handwritten Yiddish dedication to Itche Achtman from his friend Avrum, dated 25 July 1919.

A gouache portrait of a young man shown from the chest up. His face is painted grey, with dark-blue hair and features picked out in deeper blue and violet tones. He wears a dark-red coat against a pale-green background patterned with stylised flowers and leaves. Three Cyrillic letters are painted in gold on one shoulder. The unusual palette and decorative background shift the formal source portrait into a more invented, ambiguous character.

A sepia studio portrait of eleven young women arranged in three rows. Five women stand at the back, four are positioned in the middle row, and two sit at the front. They wear long dresses and blouses with high collars, typical of the period, and face the camera in a formal group pose. The photograph is softly lit and slightly faded with age. Rochl Achtman (née Karp), my grandmother, stands at the far right of the back row.

A gouache portrait of a young man shown from the chest up, resting the side of his head on one hand. His face is painted lime green and his hair pink, while his clothing is rendered in darker tones. The background is a dense deep-red field covered with stylised floral forms, giving the image an almost wallpaper-like intensity. The date 16/VI/1922 appears in gold near the lower edge of the painting. The pose feels reflective and intimate, while the heightened colours make the sitter seem partly historical and partly invented.

A sepia studio portrait of a young man shown from the chest up, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and small pince-nez spectacles. He faces the camera with a composed, slightly serious expression. Beside the portrait is the reverse of the postcard, bearing a handwritten dedication in German to I. Achtman, dated 15 February 1911, together with the stamp of the “EXPRESS” photographic studio in Chełm.

The painting shows a woman in three-quarter profile, looking back over one shoulder. Her skin is painted turquoise blue, her hair a deep maroon, and she wears a voluminous pink-and-white feathered wrap. The background is lilac and patterned with pale floral forms. Beside it, the source photograph shows the same sitter in a formal studio portrait, turning over her shoulder in a feathered wrap with one shoulder bare. The reverse carries a handwritten Yiddish dedication to Itche Achtman from Sheindl, dated 15 November 1922.