Photograph 1910

Editor: This is "Photograph" by Thomas Eakins, made in 1910. It's a gelatin-silver print. The soft focus and monochrome give it such a dreamlike, almost ghostly quality. What stands out to you about this piece? Curator: As a materialist, what intrigues me is the deliberate use of gelatin-silver printing at this time. Consider the accessibility of photography in 1910. It wasn't the ubiquitous technology we know today. Editor: So, the medium itself conveys something about Eakins’ approach? Curator: Precisely. The choice of gelatin-silver, which allowed for relatively easy reproduction and manipulation, speaks volumes about the democratization of portraiture he seemed to be after. The image also seems intentionally under-developed, with that shallow range of tone – almost an erasure of detail. How might we read that, in the context of art production? Editor: It’s like he’s emphasizing the process, the making, as much as the final product. Was Eakins playing with ideas about what makes a portrait “high art” or simply a record? Curator: Exactly! It challenges the very definition by pushing the boundaries between them and forcing the viewer to think about it. The fact that its black and white strips it to a level that most would disregard from its artistic importance. Editor: I hadn't thought about how choosing this photographic process places the artwork within the wider society. Now I look differently at photographic portraits! Curator: Indeed. It makes one contemplate photography’s function and value both then and now.