Untitled (woman posing with fedora style hat) 1940

Curator: This intriguing gelatin silver print, roughly 8 by 10 inches, comes from the studio of Harris & Ewing, though it is untitled. Editor: My first thought: eerie elegance. The inverted tones give this woman a ghostly, almost haunting presence. The sculpture she's touching looks so delicate against her skin. Curator: Precisely. Note how the negative image transforms light into shadow, reshaping our perception. The fedora adds a layer of intrigue, playing with gender and identity. Editor: It's as if she's grasping at the past, both literally, with the statue, and figuratively, through the photographic process itself which freezes a moment in time. Is she real, or a memory? Curator: The starkness of the medium amplifies these questions. Harris & Ewing have captured not just a likeness, but an atmosphere, a feeling. Editor: It makes you wonder about the story behind the sitter. It's a simple portrait, but filled with quiet emotion. I find myself longing to see the image in its positive form. Curator: Exactly. That longing IS the point.