A black and white photograph of a woman leaning forwards, face resting in hands surrounded by shadow. She has bright dark eyes, fine penciled eyebrows, a broad nose with rounded nostrils and shapely deep hued lips.
Her brow is etched with horizontal and vertical lines and the lines at the sides of her eyes and beneath them are accentuated by her fingers pushing up the skin of her plump, full cheeks. Her little fingers rest diagonally across her cheeks bent at the knuckle, forming symmetrical angles, almost a love heart shape framing her face as it rests within the palms of her hands.
The two other visible fingers, each side of the face, touch her temples. The fingernails are long and look manicured. Her hair is in shadow but seems pulled back from her face. Her skin is dark, paler towards the palms of the hands. There is a weathered, mature quality in the texture of her skin and the stillness and direct intensity of her gaze.
At the same time, a sense of youthfulness and feminine glamor is conveyed in the gleam of the eyes and the intimate forward thrust of the pose, with the bare wrists and elegant fingers, if somewhat arthritic at the joints. At rest and yet challenging an air of questioning plays about the lips, which are almost pursed, while the eyes express quiet knowingness and an ability to focus completely on what is before her.
There is both strength and softness, steeliness and warmth, even tiredness versus determination apparent in the portrait. Light falls on her face from the right, reflected in the whites of her eyes and as bright spots in the pupils. The light deepens the shadows in the creases of her skin and illuminates the poised presence, centred poise and unavoidable gaze directed towards us against the darkness behind her.