Henry Sargent Hunnewell (1854-1931) 1874 - 1875

Curator: This is a portrait of Henry Sargent Hunnewell, captured by William Notman. It's housed here at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: He looks like someone conjured him up out of sepia tones! There's an earnestness, a solemnity. It makes you wonder about the weight of expectations. Curator: Notman was a prominent photographer, his studios in Montreal, Toronto, and Halifax capturing the burgeoning elite. It’s a small card, what they call a cabinet card. Editor: It’s fascinating how a simple photographic style can convey so much about a time when appearances were, well, everything. What do you think? Curator: Absolutely, the photographic methods of the 19th century contributed to a very staged presentation of self. Editor: I suppose that's the power of photography, to hold a moment still and let us dissect it, perhaps a little too clinically, years later. Curator: And in doing so, it also reflects on us, the viewers, doesn’t it? It makes us question what is lost and found in the act of looking. Editor: Precisely. A little window to the past, reflecting our present, and perhaps hinting at futures yet unwritten.