Drie vrouwen aan tafel op een terras Possibly 1934 - 1939

Curator: Immediately, this image makes me think of the work by Dutch artist Rineke Dijkstra, especially her portraits from the 1990s. There's something similarly serene, yet also slightly melancholic in the subjects' expressions. What are your first impressions? Editor: Serene is spot on! The light dappling through the trees…it’s like stolen time, a precious moment almost caught by chance. Though melancholy seems strong. It’s more like the quiet pause just before… well, anything. Before a secret is shared or maybe simply before the tea gets cold! Curator: Fair enough. Let's unpack the setting and composition a bit. What we have here is an gelatin silver print entitled "Drie vrouwen aan tafel op een terras", or "Three Women at a Table on a Terrace" possibly taken sometime between 1934 and 1939 by an anonymous photographer. This places the work in a time of shifting socio-political landscapes across Europe. The image, in its seemingly casual nature, operates within genre painting and offers an interesting viewpoint. Editor: Right, the genre part comes through strongly. This is snapshot-esque! I find that so evocative. We are practically intruding at the tea table. Who are they, what's the story. So intimate. But if that’s correct, does it offer insight into some hidden patriarchal societal context. That sense of privacy…were women often the subject without being recognized or without recognition, I mean? Curator: Precisely. The anonymity speaks volumes, prompting a dialogue about the recognition or lack thereof afforded to women's perspectives during the era. Look closely and note the almost identical way the two ladies at the table stare. Both young women looking straight at the photographer - a deliberate portrait that is meant to express social discourse and belonging as well as personal relationship between subject, observer and world. What you mention about invasion and intimacy plays out beautifully as one starts considering issues of spectatorship and objectification within gendered power dynamics. Editor: Food for thought, absolutely. Even a seemingly innocent scene has these layers, these whispers…It makes me appreciate the artist even more for having unwittingly raised so many meaningful questions! Curator: And for making us confront our role in constructing narratives through historical reflection.