Untitled (Two Soldiers, Seated) c. 1865

Curator: Well, here's a rather somber image for us: an untitled gelatin silver print believed to date around 1865, housed at the Art Institute of Chicago. It depicts two seated soldiers. What's your initial read? Editor: It feels like holding a memory. Look at the guarded stillness in their eyes. It gives me that uncanny sensation when a photographic image seems to prefigure one's destiny... and to me they have a kind of weary beauty, haven't they? Curator: Absolutely, you hit the nail on the head with "memory." Photography of this era becomes inextricably linked with documentation and memorialization. Their stillness, the high contrast in the image... there's a tangible weight. Considering the approximate date, one can’t help but place this within the context of the American Civil War's end, and the emotional toll it had on these men. Editor: The hands fascinate me. They are carefully posed, each with a closed gesture... Are we meant to infer, through body language, suppressed grief, resilience, resignation? So many portraits from that time seem to rely on a specific set of culturally determined poses and props meant to elevate the image into the space of icons or remembrance. Curator: You bring up a crucial point about iconographic significance. Think about the symbolic power inherent in military uniforms, which were already widespread at this point. While this piece is ostensibly a portrait, we are left to question if it’s truly about *these* two particular soldiers, or are they meant to symbolize a wider conflict, and more broadly, the condition of men? Editor: Precisely. And even the apparent "lack" of narrative is, in itself, telling. The very lack of explicit details allows each viewer to project, remember, and ultimately insert his own personal connection to war, loss, masculinity, camaraderie. Curator: Well put. As a final thought, I wonder what these two men dreamed of becoming when this image was taken. Did either, or both, make it back home safely? Or is this their moment of immortality and eternal return to life, a question for us as the audience of their image. Editor: An exquisite perspective... I concur. It makes one reflect how an image continues accumulating different valences and meanings throughout historical eras, shifting perspectives, and different readings.