Fotoreproductie van La Veuve van Adolphe Alexander Dillens before 1863

This is a photographic reproduction of ‘La Veuve’ by Adolphe Alexander Dillens, an artwork of unknown date by an anonymous photographer. It shows women, probably peasants, in dark clothes, set against a somewhat blurry background. What’s fascinating here is photography itself, a process that by its nature democratizes art. Unlike painting, which requires years of training and a rarefied skill set, photography at this stage of its development could be practiced relatively easily. This ease of access has radical implications. Suddenly, the means of image production were available to a much broader segment of the population. The photographer, though anonymous, likely saw the world through a different lens than the painter Dillens. Consider the labor involved here: the work of the women depicted, the work of Dillens in the original painting, and finally the work of the anonymous photographer, who documented that painting for wider circulation. Photography collapses distinctions between fine art and craft, inviting us to consider the social and economic forces at play in the creation and distribution of images.