Portret van August Karl von Goeben 1860 - 1880

This portrait of August Karl von Goeben, probably made around 1870/71, presents us with a fascinating example of early photographic processes. Consider how this image was made. It’s a physical object, a piece of paper coated with light-sensitive chemicals. The photographer wasn’t just capturing an image, but manipulating materials through a complex series of chemical reactions. The tones, the depth, are all results of this alchemical process, not dissimilar to other image-making processes like etching. The photograph's materiality also speaks to a shift in how images were made and consumed. The rise of photography democratized portraiture. While painted portraits were the domain of the wealthy, photographic portraits made images affordable and accessible to a wider audience. This little card embodies the industrialization of image-making, yet retains a handmade quality, reflecting the labor and skill involved in producing each print. Thinking about materials and making allows us to see beyond the image and understand its broader social and cultural significance.