Dootje van Zijll de Jong bij een secretaire 1930 - 1935

Editor: This is a gelatin-silver print, a photograph called "Dootje van Zijll de Jong bij een secretaire," created sometime between 1930 and 1935. It’s a pretty formal portrait, almost like a painting. The subject, a woman in a patterned dress, seems carefully placed in a domestic setting. What strikes you about this image? Curator: What interests me is the image as a commodity. A gelatin-silver print like this suggests a democratization of portraiture compared to painted portraits reserved for the wealthy. How did technological advancements in photography during the early 20th century, specifically regarding gelatin-silver processes, make portraiture accessible to a broader segment of society? The attire, too— the patterned dress and styled hair— speak volumes about changing social expectations of women and increased consumer culture. How might the fashion choices reflected in this photograph relate to mass production techniques and new forms of visual culture circulated in magazines and department stores at the time? Editor: So, it’s not just a picture of a woman, but evidence of changing production and consumption patterns? Curator: Precisely. The photograph also captures a shift in attitudes towards women. She's positioned next to the desk, suggesting intellect and literacy, but still framed within a domestic space, suggesting her roles are still constrained by material realities and expectations. I'm also thinking about labor - who made the dress? Who processed this photo? It implies an economy of production far beyond the sitter. What’s the labor that’s not visible, but materially present? Editor: That gives me a completely different view of it! I was only thinking about the surface. Now I see it's embedded in the history of technology, labour and society. Curator: Exactly, and considering the materials transforms this image from just representation to tangible historical record. The very silver used to create the image connects to larger stories of mining, manufacturing, and global exchange.