Untitled (three women and two men with fake moustaches posing at New Year's party) 1952

Curator: There’s such a ghostly quality to this image. It’s an untitled photograph by Martin Schweig, part of the Harvard Art Museums collection, showing five people dressed up, seemingly for a New Year's party. Editor: Yes, the inverted tones create an ethereal, almost dreamlike atmosphere. I’m immediately drawn to those fake moustaches; they inject such a playful, absurd note into an otherwise formal composition. What do you make of that? Curator: I see it as a commentary on performance and identity within social rituals. These parties were often about constructing a particular image, and the moustaches serve as a deliberate disruption of that, almost poking fun at the whole affair. Editor: That’s a smart read. I also wonder about how the photograph challenges the artifice of social gatherings, suggesting that beneath the surface, there might be something melancholic, or at least not entirely genuine. Curator: Perhaps. For me, it’s a poignant reminder of how we perform for each other, especially during these milestone moments. Editor: Absolutely, and how photography itself plays into constructing those performances. It makes me wonder about the unseen narratives behind those moustached faces.