Untitled (view of long table lined with gifts in fancy room) 1959

Curator: Here we have an untitled image by Martin Schweig, housed at the Harvard Art Museums. What do you make of it? Editor: It has an oddly spectral quality. The lace tablecloth dominating the composition speaks of painstaking handicraft, yet its starkness is unsettling. Curator: Consider this within the context of gift-giving rituals and social status. The elaborate display suggests a performance of wealth and taste. Editor: Absolutely, and the gifts themselves, possibly mass-produced items, take on new meaning in this staging. The contrast between handmade and manufactured is very telling. Curator: It makes you consider how objects become imbued with social value. Editor: Precisely. Seeing the fruits of labor, be it craft or production, laid out like this is quite revealing. Curator: A great way to reflect on the politics of imagery. Editor: It really opens a lens into the production and consumption of goods.