Portret van een staande man, een zittende vrouw en een baby 1880 - 1920

Curator: Here we see a photographic print created between 1880 and 1920 by Atelier Göta. It is entitled “Portrait of a Standing Man, a Sitting Woman, and a Baby,” an albumen print, in keeping with the style of realism. Editor: It’s remarkably somber, wouldn’t you say? The lighting casts long shadows that emphasize the starkness of their clothing, almost uniforms, but there is an intimacy in the careful way that the parents hold the child. Curator: I think you’ve hit upon an interesting paradox there. The albumen print process, very popular during the period, would’ve added a measure of richness, but that is lost on contemporary viewers—because we're accustomed to images of exceptional detail. What strikes me, however, is how class is visualized: The formal dress codes of the era imposed certain roles and constraints that these individuals inhabit quite readily. What do you make of it? Editor: These staged photographic portraits were aspirational tools for the burgeoning middle class; the rigid poses, repeated countless times over, speak to social performances that cemented class status through material objects— here we see how the symbols of domesticity, patriarchy, and continuity operate to ensure those values are instilled in younger generations. The stern expression on the father is especially interesting; perhaps a visualization of Victorian codes for masculine control and strength. Curator: I find it so evocative, the way the clothing acts as an immediate marker of gender and the roles within the household. The woman's dress suggests the limited spheres to which she was relegated, in contrast to the implied public power suggested in the cut of the father's clothing. Note how the baby functions as a symbol of continuation. I wonder what future awaited that child, held like that by his parents? Editor: Absolutely, each generation passing along what was, and could never be again. And for those long departed from this Earth, even shadows carry meaning, wouldn't you agree? Curator: I would, particularly in the stories behind these artifacts that remind us what was given, and taken, in earlier times.