Portret van een onbekende vrouw in een psychiatrische instelling before 1890

This photograph of an unknown woman in a psychiatric institution was made in Vienna by the K.K. Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt für Photographie. Here, we see photography being used as a tool for observation in the late 19th century. The woman is unnamed, a patient at the Kierling-Gugging asylum. This asylum, like many others at the time, was influenced by the theories of Cesare Lombroso, who believed that criminality and mental illness could be identified through physical characteristics. The photograph, produced by an academic institution, becomes part of this discourse. It objectifies the woman, reducing her to a case study. The setting – the stark, institutional steps – and her posture, contribute to a sense of confinement and otherness. Understanding this image requires us to look at the history of psychiatry, the rise of photography, and the social attitudes towards mental illness. These resources allow us to unpack the complex layers of meaning embedded in this photograph.