Portret van een onbekende oude vrouw 1867 - 1880

This portrait of an unknown older woman was made by Willem Gerhardus Kuijer, likely in the late 19th century, through the labor-intensive process of photography. Consider the material reality of this image, the result of a complex chemical reaction on a treated surface. The photograph is small, intimate. Its sepia tones evoke a sense of the past, of time passing. The woman's dark, simple clothing contrasts with the patterned scarf and bonnet, suggesting a life of practicality punctuated by small moments of adornment. Kuijer's choice of photography, a relatively new technology at the time, speaks to a shift in how portraits were made and consumed. Unlike painting, photography offered a seemingly objective representation of reality, making portraiture accessible to a wider segment of society. It is an early form of mass production. By focusing on the materials and the making of this photograph, we can appreciate it not just as a record of a person, but as a product of its time, shaped by technological innovation and social change. It underscores that even the most seemingly straightforward images are deeply embedded in material culture.