Portret van een hond c. 1860 - 1880

Editor: This is "Portret van een hond," or "Portrait of a Dog," taken somewhere between 1860 and 1880 by Willem Cornelis van Dijk. It’s a photographic print in a decorative oval frame, and I am struck by the dog's rather stiff pose. What's your take? Curator: As a materialist, I find the very existence of this photograph fascinating. Consider the social context: Photography was becoming more accessible, but still required significant labor and expense. This dog, perched on a plinth, becomes a manufactured object of bourgeois display. The image captures not just a pet, but the material aspirations of its owner. What do you make of the mounting and framing of the photograph? Editor: I guess I hadn't considered that. It looks pretty typical for photographs from that time, right? A way to elevate them? Curator: Exactly! The framing is part of the means of production and distribution of images. Think about the materiality of this: glass, paper, chemicals – the production of each unit involved an industrial network and its mass consumption allowed certain aspirations of ownership. Did the ability to have a portrait so radically democratized through this means, help drive demand? Editor: It does reframe the whole photograph. So it’s less about the individual dog and more about how photography changed how we thought about portraiture and possessions at the time? Curator: Precisely. We move away from seeing a cute pet to understanding it as a commodity circulating within a specific social structure. Also consider how different photography is now. What materials, labor, and cost goes into this photo versus a picture you might take on your phone today? Editor: I never would have thought of it that way. Seeing this old photograph as a sort of mirror of the values of the time... It gives me a lot to think about! Curator: Indeed. Analyzing the material production helps us unpack the hidden meanings.