John and Clara's First Home c. 1900

Curator: Here we have "John and Clara's First Home," a cyanotype likely created around 1900. The piece resides here at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Editor: My first impression is a wash of blue, dreamlike almost. It evokes a sense of nostalgia, or a faded memory, maybe because of the monochromatic presentation. The architectural forms are familiar and folksy; there's nothing grandiose or impressive, simply peaceful. Curator: The cyanotype process itself is interesting here. It democratized photography. Creating this artwork was inexpensive and relatively easy. We see in this work by Agnes Winterbottom Cooney an example of vernacular photography that allowed people outside of the economic elite to depict their environments and personal lives. Editor: Indeed. Blue has historically been associated with the heavens and with faithfulness. Could the choice of cyanotype intentionally imply an almost sacred quality to this couple's home, or a fidelity to this vision of domesticity? And look at the leafless tree branches –bareness signifying the onset of something new, a marriage taking root, or enduring through literal and figurative winters. Curator: I wonder about the domesticity that's on display in "John and Clara's First Home" too. At the turn of the century there was rapid industrialization, and growing immigration. Pictures of idealized homes became especially resonant because they captured a rapidly vanishing past in the American landscape, particularly the single family dwelling. These types of images became icons representing middle class respectability. Editor: Yes, but it feels like more than mere respectability. Consider the symbolism of a house as the body, a safe space and reflection of the inner self. Is the very ordinariness of John and Clara’s home the message itself? To honor modest beginnings, to appreciate the everyday building blocks of a life together? Curator: It's a stark yet subtle commentary on social change and aspiration during that transformative period. I see in Agnes Winterbottom Cooney's picture an understanding of this transition. Editor: And I'm struck by the enduring symbolism within the photographic technique itself. Curator: Precisely. Editor: Cyanotypes are like little blue-tinged cultural time capsules!