Portret van Corry Mak van Waay-Zulver in kimono 1930 - 1935

Curator: This photograph, taken between 1930 and 1935, is titled "Portret van Corry Mak van Waay-Zulver in kimono." It presents a woman in a kimono, a composition of striking simplicity and stillness. Editor: The starkness of the monochrome really highlights the textures and shapes: the brick, the floral design, and the way the shadows play. It feels almost architectural. Curator: The kimono itself is dense with cultural information, especially when viewed through the lens of intercultural exchange of the period. It could represent an idealized exoticism embraced by Westerners, an assimilation and expression of respect for Japanese aesthetics, or something entirely other for this woman in this moment. Editor: I’m immediately drawn to how the pattern of the kimono interacts with the surrounding brickwork and floor tiles. It’s as if the floral design attempts to soften the severe geometry. Note the contrasting diagonal shadows dissecting the plane of vertical bricks as well. Curator: Indeed. What about the overall emotional impact? It's not just an objective depiction; it projects a sensibility tied to time and cultural identity. What's evoked for you? Editor: A feeling of subdued confidence, almost serene, emphasized by the turn of her head and subtle smile, perhaps a trace of melancholy, a nostalgic gesture given that photographic style and garment's occasion are distant to our modern-day experience. Curator: This photograph functions almost as a type of memory-artifact, a relic showcasing Corry Mak van Waay-Zulver wearing an item charged with the semiotics of another world, which is so different from her lived surroundings. Editor: Agreed. It showcases an engagement with form, and hints at the passage of time both within its creation, display, and rediscovery.