Untitled (children riding tricycles outside) c. 1950

Editor: This photographic negative, credited to Lucian and Mary Brown, captures children on tricycles. The inverted tones give it an eerie feel. What do you see in how it was produced and what materials were used? Curator: The negative itself is key. It reveals the hand of the photographer in ways a print might obscure. What kind of labor went into creating the emulsion? What chemicals were used? Thinking about mass production, what were children's toys made of at this time? Editor: I never considered the materials themselves as a starting point! It's like looking at the underpinnings of a cultural moment. Curator: Precisely. We move beyond simply seeing and start to understand making.