Twee portretten van een vrouw met gitaar en een portret van een vrouw in een raamkozijn 1900 - 1930

Curator: Hmm, they feel like nostalgic sepia dreams… dreamy women in times gone by. Editor: Exactly. We're looking at three mounted photographs collectively known as "Twee portretten van een vrouw met gitaar en een portret van een vrouw in een raamkozijn" or, Two Portraits of a Woman with Guitar and a Portrait of a Woman in a Window Frame". These pieces, produced sometime between 1900 and 1930 by Royer & Cie, encapsulate the portrait style popular at the time. Note also the nods to figuration, post-impressionism and a touch of genre painting. Curator: Royer & Cie, were they a studio do you think? There's a kind of postcard charm to these images, especially the woman lounging in the window. A bit risqué. Like an inside joke, but shared very publicly! Editor: Absolutely, Royer & Cie was known for mass production, particularly around the late 19th and early 20th century. What is fascinating is how they straddle high and low art. If you look at the formal qualities, we see careful compositional choices, an understanding of tonal range in photography and each image uses subtle narrative elements to elevate the genre. See the light gently illuminating her hair against the dark window frame. Curator: Light's doing a lot of heavy lifting in all of them! Even with the flat palette. I keep wondering about the sitters...Were they actresses? Models? Were these shots considered progressive, subversive perhaps? Because they exude this casual, confident air – a 'come hither' for the modern age that might be jarring alongside so much portraiture we're accustomed to. Editor: And those small details–the placement of the guitars, the tilt of a head, a fleeting smile in a window–invite interpretation. These elements push back against any notion that photography is purely a representational medium. There is an artistic intention evident here. Curator: I feel these glimpses make us pause...I find myself smiling inwardly; it's the little subversions in otherwise 'proper' pictures. Like a shared secret! Editor: Perhaps. Each frame prompts viewers to see not just faces, but whole stories lurking in those liminal spaces.