Drie badende vrouwen in badkuip 1871 - 1886

Curator: Raimund von Stillfried's "Drie badende vrouwen in badkuip," which translates to "Three Bathing Women in a Bathtub," dates to sometime between 1871 and 1886. This gelatin silver print now resides here in the Rijksmuseum. Editor: Right away, I'm struck by this quiet intimacy. It’s bathed in soft light, almost sepia-toned. There’s a serenity there, a sense of stolen moment. Curator: Precisely. Stillfried, though Austrian, spent considerable time in Japan, and became known for photographs, like this one, which captured Japanese life and were popular souvenirs for Western visitors. This particular print draws on ukiyo-e traditions, but reinterprets them through a photographic lens. Editor: Ukiyo-e's influence is clear, yet I wouldn’t immediately know this wasn’t an actual painting. Note how the figures are arranged. The foreground figure especially draws the eye down—but that’s disrupted as you keep looking because the subjects are quite Westernized— Curator: I think that's where its subtle tension lies, really. The aesthetic leans into exoticism – it offers something ‘authentically Japanese’. However, it does reflect the artist's cultural background to make it appealing to western sensibilities by incorporating elements like lighting techniques and a more staged setup, rather than candid scene capture.. The scene also invokes questions about cultural exchange and how it mediates foreign perceptions. Editor: True, it becomes this interesting play between capturing, idealizing and potentially romanticizing, the East, or at least a very tailored version of it. The muted palette helps. It strips away any harsh reality. And that framing… it turns an everyday bath into something timeless and very composed. The composition has its own inherent appeal outside of just the figures at the subject of our focus here today Curator: It becomes an artwork for consideration—a lens of many levels of seeing through various disciplines; through Stillfried's journey, technique, and perspective; and by questioning those historical conditions, what this evokes in us as viewers. Editor: Looking at this photograph now… knowing that, makes me wonder, is it beautiful or something else? Curator: It may just be a gentle haunting—with a smile.