Flâneurs en mensen te paard op Rotten Row in het Hyde Park, Londen 1851 - 1880

Editor: Here we have James Valentine’s "Flâneurs en mensen te paard op Rotten Row in het Hyde Park, Londen," a gelatin-silver print estimated to be made sometime between 1851 and 1880. It really captures a specific moment in time, but what do you see in this piece? Curator: I see a critical document of Victorian society structured around production and display. Think about the wet collodion process used for this gelatin-silver print. It demanded specialized knowledge, access to materials, and considerable labor to produce a single image. Photography, unlike painting, was rapidly becoming industrialized. Editor: So, the photograph itself is a product of specific social and economic conditions? Curator: Exactly. Rotten Row wasn't just a park; it was a stage. Look at the people – the flâneurs, the riders. They're not just enjoying leisure; they're performing their class. The horses, the carriages, the clothes, the very act of promenading – it's all consumption on display. Consider how the materiality of the photograph, this very image, helped reinforce those social divisions. Editor: I hadn't thought about the photograph *itself* being a kind of commodity. So the image reinforces this culture of... spectacle? Curator: Precisely. This photograph is not just *of* something; it is *doing* something. It is actively participating in the construction of class identity and consumer culture, solidifying these social dynamics in a way that endures today, via circulation and replication. Editor: That's fascinating. I initially saw it as just a historical snapshot, but it’s more of a material reflection and continuation of the society it depicts. Curator: It highlights how art isn't just about aesthetics but about production, consumption, and the complex interplay of materials within a specific social framework.