Untitled (girl in dress with ruffled sleeves standing by piano) after 1940

This photograph was made by Paul Gittings using a gelatin silver process, a technique that really came into its own in the late 19th century and remains a foundation of photography today. The process involves coating a support, typically paper, with light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The image emerges through exposure and chemical development. What I find interesting here is how the material influences the final appearance. The gelatin silver print yields a distinctive tonal range and clarity. We see a young girl in a dress, posed formally, next to a piano. The level of detail achieved in the gelatin silver process captures the texture of her ruffled sleeves and the sheen of the piano. This all speaks to the democratization of portraiture. Photography made it accessible across different classes, but the trappings of wealth and status remained a key aspect of photographic commissions. Understanding photography as a material practice is key to understanding its social role, helping us see past the image itself and into its broader context.