Zestien portretten van acteurs before 1893

Curator: Looking at this page, I am struck by the contrast between the handwritten page on the left, versus the neatly arranged set of portrait photographs on the right page. Editor: Yes, this is a photographic print titled "Zestien portretten van acteurs," which translates to Sixteen Portraits of Actors, created before 1893 by Nadar. It’s currently held here at the Rijksmuseum. It appears to be an albumen print on paper. Curator: The albumen process definitely lends these images a subtle warmth, almost like a sepia tone. Looking closer, one can begin to think of this process and its reliance on egg whites to achieve the photograph print as its own form of labor. The chemical reactions occurring at a micro scale really demonstrate that photographs can in themselves be considered artisanal objects, challenging ideas that a machine makes art. Editor: And isn't that very collection and ordering important? It reflects a desire for categorization, for creating a visual archive of performers who were culturally relevant at the time, and were sold for Paris consumption. These small photographic cards, often known as 'cartes de visite' really democratized image circulation. This collection and its potential availability as smaller photographs really demonstrates the growing public role of celebrity and how photography was enabling it to do that at the time. Curator: I hadn't thought about the democratization of celebrity in that way. The reproducibility of these images certainly does shift power. It moves from a more limited, usually painted, portrait to this widespread distribution on a reproducible object, a material good in and of itself. This gives a viewer agency of their own in image consumption. Editor: It's amazing to consider the reach of images at this time. The very format lent itself to collection and exchange. I wonder who bought this particular collection and how they used it. What role did this publication and the smaller versions of these images have on influencing theater in Paris? Curator: It's a compelling illustration of the intersection of art, material, and consumption. So, this "Zestien portretten van acteurs", which highlights a tangible intersection of history, celebrity and visual accessibility through innovative process, definitely provides a lens on cultural influence through both human subjects, but also human consumption and the changing face of how a picture may be distributed.