Portret van een jongen met stok in de hand, staand bij een tafel met boek 1860 - 1900

Editor: Here we have "Portret van een jongen met stok in de hand, staand bij een tafel met boek" – or, "Portrait of a Boy with Stick in Hand, Standing by a Table with Book." It’s a gelatin silver print, dating sometime between 1860 and 1900, by Albert Delabarre. It has an undeniable charm to it, but what exactly am I looking at here? Curator: Consider the photographic process itself. A gelatin silver print from this period speaks to industrial advances. Notice how this allows for mass reproduction of images previously available only to the wealthy. Who is commissioning this image? Why? What sort of social currency does this bestow on this particular boy? Editor: It's interesting to think about the mass reproduction element of photography as something that was once a relatively new possibility! The fact that multiple copies of this image could have been produced and distributed really shifts how we think about portraiture, right? How does this impact who could commission art? Curator: Precisely! It democratizes representation but also raises questions about labor and accessibility. Delabarre, like other photographers, was engaging in a commercial enterprise. Who benefitted economically from this technology? Who had access? The finished print hides a whole network of manufacturing and labor. Editor: I hadn't thought about the photographer as also engaging in commerce and contributing to capitalism. So much of the focus tends to be on art as self-expression, it's fascinating to examine it from the perspective of material conditions. It also puts that "genre-painting" tag into a completely new light! Curator: Exactly! Consider the socio-economic background, and suddenly this seemingly innocent image of a boy opens up a much wider view. I always enjoy revealing the hidden sides of things, it certainly makes things more interesting! Editor: This has totally shifted my thinking on not only this image, but others as well! There's always more than meets the eye!