Portret van een vrouw 1870 - 1910

Editor: This is a photograph titled "Portret van een vrouw" by Heinrich Wilhelm Wollrabe, dated sometime between 1870 and 1910. It looks like a gelatin silver print, a very faint image. It feels like looking at someone's distant relative from an old family album. What can you tell me about this piece? Curator: Well, considering its time, photography served a democratizing function in portraiture. Who do you think could afford portraits during that era and how does photography change the social dynamic? Editor: Before photography, probably only the wealthy could afford painted portraits, making it a symbol of status. Photography made portraiture accessible to the middle class. Curator: Exactly! And think about the institutional power dynamics. Studios like Wollrabe's became sites where the emerging middle class could participate in image-making, and by implication, public life. But notice the woman's pose and attire, which follow conventions set by painted portraiture. What does that tell you about photography's role in solidifying social norms, but also shifting away from older societal norms? Editor: So photography, while accessible, was still participating in some way with the norms of painting and societal expectations around portraiture and who got their portrait taken. So photography became more widespread but the same societal implications from paintings existed with these older photographs. Curator: Yes, there's a negotiation occurring. Photography opened doors but also reinforced pre-existing cultural codes of the portrait. Notice the details, from her hairstyle to the small adornment in her hair, likely reflected societal values. Now, what could the existence of such a common place photography be telling us about society? Editor: Maybe how photography was becoming popular, the new trendy medium for people to take their photos to. Thanks, I'll think about that! Curator: And I learned to consider the individual agency embedded even in seemingly formulaic images!