Liggende man opgebaard zoals Christus, met vrouw bij zijn voeten before 1896

This small print, made by Léon Bovier, depicts a man laid out as if in death, a woman at his feet, and was made using a photomechanical print process. It’s important to remember that photographs are not just transparent windows onto the world; they are produced through labor, and made of material. Here, the deployment of a photomechanical process speaks to the rise of mass media, and all that it implied for the democratization of imagery. Before this kind of technology, the dissemination of images was much more restricted. Given the work's title, we cannot ignore the religious context: the comparison to Christ. The making of photographs, just like the making of supposedly ‘higher’ art forms, is steeped in social significance. By focusing on materials, making, and context, we can begin to challenge traditional distinctions between fine art and craft, and understand the wider social and political themes present in the work.