Portret van een onbekende oude man 1855 - 1885

This portrait of an unknown old man was made by Ch. Verbeke-Schodts, most likely in the mid-19th century, using the then-new technology of photography. Consider the material reality of this object. It is a paper card, likely produced in multiples, each an exact replica of the last. This was revolutionary! Before photography, portraits were the domain of painting, an expensive and time-consuming proposition. The rise of photography democratized image-making, bringing portraiture to a wider segment of society. Think about the labor involved. Not just the photographer's skill, but also the factory workers who produced the photographic paper and chemicals. The photograph becomes a material index of broader industrial and social changes. It is a document and an artifact, its meaning extending far beyond the stern face it depicts.