Twee portretten van een onbekende vrouw before 1886

Curator: Here we have an open photograph album featuring two portraits of an unidentified woman, made sometime before 1886. The photographs themselves are albumen prints. Editor: Well, looking at it, they're rather haunting. They almost appear as if someone is presenting these two versions of a person to the world... both looking very vulnerable to my eyes. Curator: The albumen process is interesting. It relied on egg whites to bind the photographic chemicals to the paper. So these are literally built from a kitchen staple—the commodification of a household object used for something artistic and deeply personal like portraiture... intriguing, isn't it? Editor: Absolutely, there's that domestic angle clashing with the more formal, artistic realm that always intrigues me. But thinking about the process, it feels so far removed from how instantly we can capture images today. Each one represents a focused, intentional moment... and potentially a whole market based on studio time and repeat visits. Curator: Precisely! These were made during the peak of studio photography and widespread photographic portraiture that offered ways to create and communicate new identities. Look closely at the circular frames and notice they provide both an intimate gaze, but almost like we're viewing specimen under a lens for observation, or keepsake that one might give to a lover. Editor: Keepsakes indeed! Also, I am distracted by the heavy head adornments. Like miniature, slightly aggressive crowns, and all the ornate embellishments across the garments… is it me or do they almost clash with the somber mood that strikes you looking at them for the first time? Curator: That tension probably highlights the social conditions in that period: where conspicuous displays of wealth clashed with poverty as much as it still does today, where new possibilities for the individual expression also meet oppressive cultural standards... Editor: I suppose, when you put it that way, that explains so much about this work for me! It’s less about an individual face but, in fact, a reflection on a society, captured by this strange, intimate yet somehow alienating technique. Curator: Indeed, and the albumen process also allows a look into how even something as seemingly immutable as photography is also, at heart, fundamentally rooted in industrialization and processes, or our access to photographic "reality". Editor: So, from egg whites to societal pressures, this image definitely provides plenty of food for thought...or rather, image for thought! Curator: Indeed, from materials to meaning, that is.