Reproductie naar een foto van Willem Witsen c. 1860 - 1915

Editor: Here we have a gelatin silver print, “Reproductie naar een foto van Willem Witsen,” dating roughly from 1860 to 1915, currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. The subject's pose gives a sense of upper-class confidence, almost bordering on boredom. What can you tell us about this photograph? Curator: Well, looking at the gelatin silver print process itself tells us a great deal. It was a relatively accessible medium at the time, allowing for mass production and dissemination of images. Think about the rise of photography studios, the new accessibility for middle class families to immortalize themselves in images. Editor: So you are saying that the process changed how portraits were made? Curator: Precisely. And look at the subject’s attire; the tailored suit signals a specific class. Now compare that with the crumbling wall behind him. How does that juxtaposition inform your understanding? Was it the studio available? Or was the location purposefully chosen to convey some subtle tension? Editor: It’s like the rigid formality meeting… a certain decay? Perhaps highlighting a changing social landscape or tensions beneath the surface? I was initially reading it purely as a formal portrait. Curator: And what about the labor involved? The photographer's skill, the technician preparing the gelatin silver, even the tailor who crafted the suit—each played a role in the image's meaning. How much did each of these labourers receive? The image presents this upper-class man but really involves the efforts of many other laborers, and thus the material conditions of the whole system is exposed. Editor: It makes you consider what is absent in the photo and perhaps obfuscated by the main subject. I'll never see photography in quite the same way now.