Untitled (three women standing with goat on leash) c. 1950

Editor: This small gelatin silver print by Jack Gould shows three women and a goat. There is such an odd sense of formality! What do you make of it? Curator: It's quirky, right? The negative effect, the stiff poses... almost dreamlike. I get a sense of playful subversion. Makes you wonder what's "real," doesn't it? Like a stage play. Editor: So, you think it’s performative? Curator: Perhaps. Or maybe it’s a commentary on social expectations, flipped on its head. Either way, that goat steals the show. I like the ambiguity.