Portret van An Kessler en Guus Kessler op een stoel by Richard Kameke

Portret van An Kessler en Guus Kessler op een stoel 1889

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daguerreotype, photography

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portrait

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daguerreotype

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photography

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19th century

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genre-painting

Dimensions: height 140 mm, width 100 mm, height 302 mm, width 146 mm

Copyright: Rijks Museum: Open Domain

This photograph captures An and Guus Kessler seated on a chair, and was made by Richard Kameke, sometime in the late 19th century. The chemical processes of early photography are very much on display here. This is not a slick digital image, but a carefully composed material record, made through a laborious process of light exposure and development. The sepia tones and soft focus are characteristic of the era, underscoring the photograph’s status as a crafted artifact, rather than a mere snapshot. Consider too, the chair on which the children are posed. It is clearly a valuable object, carefully made with turned wood and patterned upholstery, and has an important part to play in the narrative of the image. The photograph, together with the chair, speaks to the family's social standing. Both the making of the chair and the photograph involved skilled work, and remind us that all images are made, not just taken.

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