Chrysant before 1896

Editor: So, this is *Chrysant* by Kazumasa Ogawa, before 1896, a gelatin silver print. I am really drawn to the monochromatic quality; it gives the image a feeling of age and preciousness, like a relic. How can we unpack this photograph, especially thinking about its creation and consumption? Curator: Well, let’s think about gelatin silver prints. What does that materiality tell us? It was a process that, by this time, allowed for mass reproduction. This isn’t a unique object in the way a painting would be. It suggests the rise of photographic industries, right? Were these flowers perhaps commercially grown? Were they luxury goods at the time? Editor: That’s a fascinating point! I hadn’t considered the commercial aspect. The image also evokes a sense of Japanese aesthetics… the arrangement, the delicate detail. Curator: Exactly. That’s likely Japonisme, which deeply affected European artistic production as well. Consider how the labour of flower cultivation intersects with the craft involved in producing these prints. Did Ogawa produce the image on commission? What kind of circulation and marketing would this artwork undergo in the late 19th Century? What were the supply chains involved? How was the final work consumed? These sorts of things influence not only production but also reception, how people actually interact with the work. Editor: I see, the material conditions truly shaped this. I appreciate that focus - how looking at gelatin and silver and considering labour re-frames it so vividly! Curator: Precisely. By considering the material processes involved, from the cultivation of the subject matter to the development of the photographic print, we gain a more profound understanding of the piece's context.