But the pictures' similar scattered arrangement of organic forms detracts from important differences. The watercolor attains a strong visual presence resulting from sharply delineated shapes and underlined by its color and textured surface. Wols's paintings are about coming into presence, while his photographs are all about verging onto absence. Like the portraits of many contemporary photographers such as Walter Peterhans or Man Ray, Wols's faces are effaced. His camera empties his sitters, including himself, of human traces and transforms them into objects.
Facial features drown in shadows and light reflections.
Views from above, closed eyes, or supine positions render models lifeless. Heads turn into masks, be it through exaggerated grimacing or close-ups that enlarge pores and wrinkles. The viewer will encounter Nicole Bouban from above, lying down with her eyes closed. Her shoulders are hardly visible, but their weight presses down against the draped ground. This cloth in turn pushes up, as its white butterflies and flowers float around Bouban's pale face and white-blond curls, even crawl into the back of her hair.