Vijf foto's van Caty van den Wall Bake en haar familie 1911 - 1915

Editor: Here we have "Vijf foto's van Caty van den Wall Bake en haar familie," dating from 1911 to 1915. They are albumen prints, a type of photography. Looking at them, I'm struck by how intimate and casual they feel, almost like snapshots. What do you see in this piece? Curator: What strikes me is how the *materiality* of the albumen print shapes our experience. Albumen, derived from egg whites, gave a glossy surface. It transformed a mere documentation process into something 'artful.' Considering that each print needed manual preparation— coating the paper, sensitizing it, developing, it gives a sense of the labor involved. Editor: That’s interesting. I hadn’t thought about the physical work of creating these images. Curator: Exactly! Think about the social context too: why this material? Why these specific poses? This style of photographic art offered the upper classes ways of showing familial and intimate settings, crafting certain narratives about themselves. How does the consumption of art play into this? Editor: So, it's not just about the finished product, but also about understanding how they were made and what they represent in terms of wealth, class, and social expectations. The choice of albumen is a signifier. Curator: Precisely! It compels us to challenge art-historical traditions separating craft and 'high' art; it focuses us on photographic labour instead, the materials involved. Editor: It’s definitely changed how I look at these photographs. I see them now as deliberate constructions reflecting social status. Curator: And each a material and cultural object shaped by historical context, labor, and consumption! The history is literally built into the surface of these.