Untitled (boy on bench with stuffed animals) c. 1950

Curator: This photograph, of unknown date, is part of a series taken by Lucian and Mary Brown currently housed in the Harvard Art Museums. It's simply titled, "Untitled (boy on bench with stuffed animals)." Editor: The lighting is so stark. It feels like they really wanted to capture this moment, almost too sharply. The composition focuses heavily on the domestic, but there’s something unsettling about it. Curator: Well, consider that it's an amateur photograph; the artists may have been more focused on capturing a specific scene. The image freezes a very particular moment in childhood, the boy with his toys. Editor: But what about the setting? A brick fireplace. It looks more like a display than a home. The textures of the stuffed animals seem almost hyperreal. I keep focusing on how they were made. Curator: Perhaps that’s exactly what the Browns were trying to capture: the tension between the interiority of childhood and its presentation to the world. Editor: You know, looking at it again, there's a real honesty in how the materials are shown, almost laid bare. Curator: Agreed. The photograph serves as a stark reminder of time's passage and how we construct memories. Editor: And how we make things.