Portret van een staande vrouw 1855 - 1880

This photograph of a standing woman was created by La Presse Artistique. Consider the material of this image. It's a carte-de-visite, a type of photograph made popular in the mid-19th century. These small portraits were produced on a mass scale. They democratized image-making, making portraiture available to a wider audience, beyond the elite. The process involved creating a glass negative, which could then be used to make multiple prints. This was a departure from earlier photographic processes, like daguerreotypes, which produced one-of-a-kind images. The rise of photography studios and the demand for these portraits created new forms of labor. Think about the photographers, the studio assistants, and the workers who produced the paper and chemicals. It was an industry in itself. These images were often collected in albums, becoming a way to preserve memories and display social connections. The mass production of images changed our relationship to representation. So, when you look at this portrait, think about the social and economic forces that made it possible. It's not just an image of a woman, but a product of its time.