Dame en een heer tussen publiek bij de Hippodrome de Longchamp tijdens paardenraces in het Bois de Boulogne Possibly 1912 - 1916

This photograph by the Frères Séeberger, captures a moment at the Hippodrome de Longchamp in Paris, around 1912, during a time when modernity and tradition were in conversation. Here, the fashionable elite gather, and it's clear that being seen is as crucial as seeing the races. The photograph offers a glimpse into the constructed world of leisure and social display of the upper classes. Note the woman's elaborate dress, a display of wealth but also a marker of feminine identity within this social theater. What does it mean to perform gender on such a public stage? The gaze of the figures, their gestures, their clothing, all speak to the complex choreography of class, gender, and power that defined this era. The photograph documents a very specific slice of Parisian society, one that was on the cusp of dramatic change with the looming shadow of World War I. It’s a scene imbued with both privilege and a subtle sense of the ephemeral nature of such a world.