Paule Gobillard, Jeannie Gobillard, Julie Manet, and Geneviève Mallarmé 1895

Editor: Here we have Edgar Degas's gelatin silver print, "Paule Gobillard, Jeannie Gobillard, Julie Manet, and Geneviève Mallarmé," from 1895, currently residing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I am really struck by how intimate and natural the composition is. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The image reads to me as a subtle visual encoding of kinship and cultural heritage. Consider how Degas positions the figures—their postures, their relation to each other and the surrounding interior. It evokes the symbolism inherent in domestic spaces during this period. Do you notice the arrangement of light and shadow and the gaze each subject offers? Editor: I do, especially the interplay of shadow on the women. The girl on the left appears as if she is in mid-conversation, seemingly unaware of Degas capturing the photograph. I feel like it gives a glimpse into their domestic lives. It almost feels like they were frozen in time. Curator: Indeed. Photography offered the bourgeoisie a novel means of representing themselves, separate from older painted traditions. Photography carried new cultural connotations with its alleged “objectivity,” offering itself as a supposedly truer picture of how life was. Do you notice the image’s tonality or compositional elements in light of Post-Impressionism’s aesthetic concerns? Editor: Now that you mention Post-Impressionism, the tonal quality definitely reminds me of some Impressionist paintings I have studied, which is echoed with its emphasis on light and atmosphere. It is an exploration of both how they see themselves and the world they inhibit. Curator: Precisely. Degas uses the then-emerging technology to capture his kin within their private sphere. By observing how we perceive visual symbols, we may interpret how inherited cultural memory functions. Editor: This really opened my eyes to the symbolic potential within an image and to look beyond the superficial aspects of representation! Curator: Indeed. It encourages us to ponder what traces of cultural continuity might exist behind every image we consume, or every portrait we frame and display even today.