Portret van William Thomson before 1891

Curator: What strikes me most viewing this albumen print from before 1891, "Portret van William Thomson," is the profound sense of a life dedicated to contemplation. Editor: It has such an intense and almost contradictory feeling of importance, of monumentality, even, set against the fragility of the material and the very soft focus. This dichotomy is interesting. Curator: The choice of the albumen print intensifies the intimate moment. You get such rich tonality compared to a modern digital photograph, the subject and image merge, and in effect William Thomson's essence seems burned onto the photographic page as a modern icon. Editor: I'm fascinated by this book format; by placing what appears to be two distinct portraits side by side, separated only by their tonality. Are they meant to show before and after, or is this a class commentary on visibility and access? What is the function of portraiture and its purpose in society at this time? Curator: Perhaps one serves as the plate for the actual, finished portrait, a method by which many iconographic portraits were first conceived and later brought to final realization. It serves to show a hidden stage of making, of revelation. It’s beautiful. Editor: It definitely speaks to portraiture's role in constructing identities within scientific discourse and perhaps even as an explicit nod to documentation of this scientist’s presence. There is, nonetheless, an exclusion enacted when his presence seems less “complete,” by a portrait being rendered faint. Curator: Perhaps also a meditation on memory itself—how clear and vivid some aspects remain while others fade with the passage of time, that his essence continues, recorded through the work of his hands. Editor: Yes. Considering portraiture as an engagement of subject, memory, and document really helps bring to light issues concerning value and continued visibility through history. What has he written, who will see this portrait? Curator: What do you make of it now? Editor: Seeing the relationship between these historical narratives of the book format and portraiture certainly creates space for contemporary reflection.