KLM-kapitein Ivan Smirnoff voor een microfoon 1933

Editor: This gelatin silver print, “KLM-kapitein Ivan Smirnoff voor een microfoon,” made in 1933, captures what appears to be a staged portrait of an airline pilot at a microphone. I’m struck by the sharp contrast between the dark background and the gleaming microphone. What do you see in this piece? Curator: I’m drawn to the very means of its making. It’s a gelatin silver print, so we need to consider the industrial processes involved in producing the photographic paper itself, the mining of the silver, and the labour involved in its production, right? Editor: Absolutely. The technical aspect, how this image was made. Curator: Exactly! The choice of gelatin silver points to a shift towards mass production in photography. Then there's the image itself. Smirnoff wasn’t just a pilot; he was a figure representing technological progress and global connectivity at the time. And, significantly, consider what a spectacle radio still was, the raw technology. Editor: The microphone looks very bulky, clunky! Curator: Right! This image, carefully staged or not, then circulates potentially to a large audience through printing processes. This all required the work of journalists, editors, printers, distributors - each dependent on certain resources, all for mass consumption. Editor: That’s fascinating. So, the portrait isn’t just about Smirnoff; it's about how he was produced and consumed as a media figure? Curator: Precisely! This makes us question the traditional focus on the artist's intention, shifting our attention to the systems that gave it meaning and disseminated this meaning widely. Editor: I never thought about portraiture like that. It makes me look at the image totally differently. Curator: Considering these images as outcomes of certain processes really encourages thinking of them, or photography at large, from the supply chains up!