Untitled (men with large bottles for advertising) 1950

Curator: This arresting silver gelatin print, currently titled "Untitled (men with large bottles for advertising)" by Jean Raeburn, immediately strikes me as unsettling. The inverted tones feel ghostly, almost nightmarish. Editor: I see these oversized bottles—Ipana toothpaste, Vitalis hair tonic—as emblems of a hyper-masculine consumer culture. The men become almost secondary, props within this landscape of advertised self-care. Curator: Precisely. And Raeburn’s choice to depict this through photography—a medium so closely tied to notions of realism—creates a tension, highlighting the artificiality of these constructed ideals. Who profits from it and at whose expense? Editor: The bottles themselves become totems, instantly recognizable brands imbued with deeper cultural meanings of aspiration and conformity. They are icons of a time and place. Curator: Yes, that’s a very astute reading. What do you take away from this piece? Editor: The photograph underscores how consumerism is inherently gendered and how it works to construct and reinforce norms that can feel oppressive. I leave with a sense of how easily we buy into such constructs.