Portret van een onbekende man op een fiets 1889 - 1893

This photograph by Johanna Margaretha Piek captures an unknown man on a bicycle. This image allows us to consider the social and cultural context around technology and representation in the late 19th century. Made at a time when the bicycle was becoming increasingly popular, it represented freedom, mobility, and progress, especially for the middle classes. Think of the bicycle boom in Europe and North America, as these machines became cheaper to produce and more efficient. It was more than mere transport; it was wrapped up in ideas of modernity and social change. What's also interesting here is that the photograph was created by a woman, who may have also been interested in the ideas of progress. Historians often use archival sources, newspapers, and other images to understand the multiple roles of technologies such as the bicycle and the camera, and their meaning within social life.