Portret van een staande man met zwaard 1880 - 1920

Curator: Let’s discuss "Portret van een staande man met zwaard," a gelatin-silver print by Philippe Abel, likely taken between 1880 and 1920. It captures a man in uniform holding a sword. What are your initial thoughts? Editor: He looks stoic, like a soldier waiting for a portrait he'd rather not be posing for. There's a melancholic quality to the tones that reminds me of old family albums, all those unspoken stories captured in faded sepia. Curator: The gelatin-silver process was dominant then, allowing for mass production. Portraits became accessible, reflecting the era's burgeoning middle class and the evolving concept of self-representation. His uniform becomes a tool to declare a belonging. Editor: Exactly, the sword is a stage prop almost, part of the character he’s trying to present. Still, the photographic quality is nice and lends a real feel. You can sense the photographer's care, setting up the backdrop, perhaps even subtly directing his pose. I think this gelatin-silver print truly gives it character. Curator: This brings up labor – the studio assistants, the retouching, the mass production of chemical products used in development, creating a material and social ecosystem behind the image. How accessible and 'democratic' photography was is actually really layered and has costs. Editor: Very true. Though this photo triggers a cascade of images in my mind - the romantic era. And I want to find stories inside this man. Who was he outside of this very staged moment? I want the narrative! Curator: Well, the narrative is the picture and our job here to consider not only the narrative this picture constructs, but the many other economic relationships surrounding its materiality. This wasn't art for art's sake as a privileged few know it, this was labor at play for an expanded consumer class. Editor: I suppose we can look at his serious expression and the precision of the gelatin print to better contextualize and think of its function inside the era, as it represents, literally, a man and an expanding society that can suddenly produce pictures like this on the fly. I never thought of that so straightforwardly, thank you! Curator: The material tells many histories when you're ready to dig a bit, it isn’t only an image that tells its truths.