Untitled (portrait of family on lawn) c. 1950

Curator: Here we have "Untitled (portrait of family on lawn)" by Lucian and Mary Brown, a photograph at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The inverted tones create a strange feeling. It almost feels like a ghostly visitation. Curator: Indeed. The composition itself is fairly straightforward, the subjects are centered, but the reversal transforms it. We see a family group on the grass. The father sits in a lawn chair, the others positioned around him. Editor: It’s hard to ignore how the negative presentation alters the reading. Perhaps it critiques idealized notions of family or comments on the photographic process itself. Curator: That said, the texture remains interesting. Note how the grass in the foreground is a visual foil to the bodies themselves, and the formal construction of the backyard fence lends a rigid structure to the image. Editor: Ultimately, the reversed tonality invites us to question how photographs shape and sometimes distort our memory of the past. Curator: Precisely. It is these juxtapositions that give it its enduring power.