Echtpaar Jetten in hun woonkamer 1925 - 1927

Curator: The gelatin silver print before us is titled "Echtpaar Jetten in hun woonkamer," placing the Jetten couple in their living room sometime between 1925 and 1927. Editor: There's such a serene quality to it, despite being a photograph. The way the light filters through those large windows, almost dreamlike. And is that a lamp sculpture, drawing so much focus with its dramatic shape? Curator: Notice how the light itself is an active ingredient, a key element of the production of this photographic print. The windows and light pouring through frame not just the sitters, but also draw attention to the structure and function of the space itself. The windows act as a sort of grid, wouldn't you say? Editor: Precisely. It calls my mind to a specific era and sensibility. The symmetry is almost classical, that formal window acting like a proscenium. And yet, within that rigidity, those chairs and the covered lamp add a layer of bourgeois eccentricity and quiet domestic drama. Curator: And that rug. We can't see all of it, but the inclusion of craft, even within a space presumably inhabited by middle-class subjects, says something important about social relations to materiality. It subtly undermines rigid notions of production hierarchy. The presence of plants also brings an external element into the photograph itself. Editor: Those details speak volumes. The husband seems rather formal; even casual dress connotes a specific masculinity. It almost feels like a stage set. Consider, even, how that towering lampshade mimics his figure in the chair and imposes itself. Curator: I'd argue the framing by the window, doorway and hanging lamp do something similar for each of the sitters in turn, though each has their own light. I agree there's a theatricality at play, which certainly stems from how photographic processes were developing at that time. The Jettens are also performing their social role. Editor: So, this photograph manages to blend formal tradition, bourgeois values, and understated surreal touches to offer a rich picture of its time. Curator: It reminds us of the complexity behind even seemingly straightforward images when we account for material processes and techniques of photographic production.