Portret van een onbekende vrouw met een gesloten waaier in haar hand 1854 - 1889

This is a portrait of an unknown woman with a closed fan in her hand by André-Adolphe-Eugène Disdéri. The photograph captures a sitter in a dress with a high, lace-trimmed collar, and an elaborate hairstyle. Photographs like this one were significant cultural artifacts, especially for women. They served as a means of self-representation and asserted identity within the confines of societal expectations. Note the closed fan. It might seem like a simple accessory, but it spoke volumes in a time when women navigated strict social codes. What does it mean for the fan to be closed? Is it symbolic of the woman’s emotional reticence, her desire for privacy, or perhaps a subtle act of defiance against the public gaze? Disdéri's work, like much portraiture of the time, walks a line between perpetuating and challenging the roles assigned to women. It invites us to consider how women negotiated their identities in a world that often sought to define them narrowly.