Q. These portraits are by Mike Disfarmer, a reclusive self-taught photographer who made a living by photographing the local residents of the small town where he lived, Herber Springs, Arkansas, between 1939 and 1946. His glass-plate negatives were “discovered” by the art world after his death in 1959. He is now considered a major contributor to the history of portraiture. Why are Disfarmer’s portraits more interesting than the typically arranged studio portrait and why do you think they are both historically and artistically significant?