Twee vrouwen slapen op een kleed op de vloer 1856 - 1859

This photograph shows two women asleep on a rug-covered floor, and like many early photographs, was made through a laborious process of arranging a tableau and hand-tinting the final print. What’s interesting here is the sharp contrast between the domestic setting and the apparent subject. The interior is elaborately decorated with fine objects, fabrics and finishes indicating a comfortable middle-class existence. But the sleeping women are lying on the floor fully clothed, hinting at exhaustion or even destitution. The tension between these two realities, carefully composed and colored, reveals a great deal about the conditions of labor and class at the time. The act of making this photographic print is bound to a wider social context of labor, politics, and consumption. By considering the materials, making, and broader historical context, we can start to understand how photography complicates the boundaries between fine art and craft.