Portretten 1890 - 1900

Curator: What we have here is a photographic album page, simply titled "Portretten," dating from between 1890 and 1900. The photographs are albumen prints, a popular process at the time. Editor: It strikes me immediately as a sort of aspirational family archive, almost painfully staged. These faces... they tell a story of a very specific social stratum. Curator: Absolutely. The albumen print process itself is quite revealing. Consider the labor involved: coating paper with egg whites, sensitizing it, printing, and then carefully mounting the final image. This was hardly an accessible medium for the masses. Editor: Exactly. The portraits—primarily of young girls dressed in finery and at least one, of a royal personage —speak to notions of inheritance, display of social position, even idealized womanhood circulating at the time. These images performed a social function, reinforcing particular identities within the family structure. Curator: I am very interested to discuss what those hats were made of. It seems as though very specific material signifiers were placed within each individual image, in order to signify familial ties. Editor: Note also the poses, the backdrops, even the careful trimming of the photographs into ovals and rectangles for the album page. Each choice was calculated to create a certain effect and the accumulation of imagery works towards a larger political project, constructing this idea of legacy. How many generations are collected on this page? The history is as compelling as the craft! Curator: Yes! It's the intersection that I find fascinating— the material and social conditions shaping both the subjects and the production. The consumption of art by this class creates its own complex power dynamic! Editor: Seeing these gathered together certainly illuminates aspects of history not often readily apparent. I had one idea about what I was looking at; however, now the photograph invites conversation about social, institutional, and financial history that might go unspoken with many other pieces. Curator: Yes, the quiet album, shouting volumes!