Untitled (portrait of man in suit with cane and dog in garden) 1930

Curator: This intriguing image, held in the Harvard Art Museums, is an untitled portrait by Hamblin Studio, depicting a man with a dog. It's a photographic negative, about 10 by 13 centimeters. Editor: The inverted tones create such a surreal feeling, almost dreamlike. The man's pristine suit and the dog's active pose strike a curious contrast. Curator: Exactly! It's fascinating to consider how studio photography like this functioned in its time. What was the material cost of the film, the chemicals, and the printing process? How did this impact who could afford such a portrait? Editor: And how did studios shape social perceptions through image control? The careful posing, the dog as a status symbol - it all constructs a very specific narrative of leisure and affluence. Curator: The production of such images was, and remains, a social act embedded with economic and cultural implications. Editor: It is, isn’t it? This negative makes me think of the power that photographs hold, and how that power changes over time.