Portret van een onbekende priester 1880 - 1906

This photographic portrait of an unknown priest was produced by Willem Gerhardus Kuijer in Amsterdam. The albumen print, a process refined in the 1850s, involves coating paper with egg white and silver nitrate, making it light-sensitive, before placing the negative on top and exposing it to light. Photography, in its moment of invention, was seen as a craft like any other. A collodion positive print like this one involved a whole host of skills: mixing chemicals, preparing glass plates, careful timing of exposures, and hand-application of varnish to protect the delicate image. The final result gives us not only a glimpse into the sitter’s likeness, but also into the industrialized processes of image-making in the 19th century. It reminds us that photography emerged from the same impulse as other industrial processes: the efficient production of goods for a burgeoning market. Thinking about this history emphasizes the skill and labor involved, and challenges the separation between art and craft.