Portret van een vrouw 1890 - 1894

This is a portrait of a woman by Brund, made with photography. The image is on a rectangular card, with an oval cutout for the portrait itself. The sepia tones remind us of the past, when photography was a labor-intensive process. We can consider the amount of work that went into this image; the photographer, the studio, and the sitter herself, who would have had to hold very still. At that time, photography was both cutting-edge technology and an emerging cultural practice. It democratized portraiture, making it accessible to a broader public. Before photography, painted portraits were exclusive to the wealthy, but photographic portraits allowed the middle class to partake in this form of representation. Ultimately, this photograph speaks to the intertwined nature of technology, labor, and social change. It also challenges traditional notions of art by blurring the lines between craft, industry, and fine art.