Portret van een vrouw 1868 - 1909

Editor: Here we have Idanus Hendrikus Slaterus’s “Portret van een vrouw,” created sometime between 1868 and 1909, a gelatin silver print. It strikes me how everyday it is; like a common sort of photographic material captured an equally ordinary sitter. What are your initial thoughts on the work? Curator: It's fascinating to consider the labour and economic forces at play here. Gelatin silver prints like this one, while now commonplace, represent a shift in photographic production. Before the mass production and dissemination enabled by this process, photography was a much more exclusive and artisanal craft. What kind of democratization did this shift enact and for whom? Editor: So, the rise in the photographic medium changed who could own their own likeness? Curator: Precisely! And how that changed their sense of self in relationship to wider social constructs, like family. This isn't just about seeing a face; it’s about the access to technologies of self-representation and the burgeoning industries surrounding photography, from portrait studios to the manufacturing of photographic materials and the ready-made embellishment on clothing. Do you see those material connections? Editor: I see the shift you’re discussing. From handcrafted photography to manufacturing; I suppose more sitters than ever could project their image through professional materials, such as the subject of this print. Curator: Indeed, and by acknowledging those means we shift art history. So we challenge distinctions between the image and the everyday, between art and the economy that allows it. Editor: Thinking about the everyday sitter and the means of photography brings it all into a fresh, real perspective. Thanks for sharing your point of view. Curator: The pleasure was all mine. Thinking materially adds a new perspective.