Portret van een onbekend kind in een kinderstoel 1900 - 1914

Curator: Let's take a moment to examine this fascinating gelatin-silver print, “Portret van een onbekend kind in een kinderstoel,” dating from around 1900-1914 and photographed by Joël de Lange. The work presents an unidentified child seated in a Victorian-era stroller. Editor: The first thing that strikes me is the visual weight of the bonnet; it practically engulfs the child! The frilly white fabric juxtaposes rather strongly against the somewhat distressed and functional aesthetic of the metal and wooden stroller. Curator: That tension is certainly present. I see this image speaking to the socio-economic context of the era, specifically the transition into a time of greater industrialization and the increased commodification of childhood. The choice of the gelatin-silver process, being easily reproducible, points to photography's rise in popularity within portraiture for an increasingly larger segment of the population. It's a rather affordable and reproducible method. Editor: True, yet I’m more drawn to the bonnet, this massive symbol of infant purity and innocence—practically a halo! The Victorians really leaned into the Madonna-like imagery with children, dressing them as miniature adults, innocent but trapped by expectations. And the stroller—note the wheels—feels almost cage-like, confining yet protective. Curator: I wonder how conscious de Lange was of constructing that narrative or merely recording a scene. But regardless, the stroller design is quite striking. Its materials - the wood, metal, even the fasteners- convey a handcrafted sturdiness now lost. Editor: To me, this composition tells a more significant story of that child, suspended between the artificial construct of innocence and the sturdy realities of a world just beyond their immediate grasp, symbolized by that almost-menacing carriage. Curator: It makes you ponder the labour involved in creating this seemingly simple image; not just in developing the photograph itself but in creating the props, the clothes, and in transporting the equipment required at the time. All those actions become inscribed into the artwork as well, becoming part of its meaning. Editor: That’s fascinating—the layered physicality. I'm seeing this now as a powerful artifact of cultural ideals imposed upon our understanding of the very concept of "childhood". Curator: Exactly! It's in that interplay between process and symbolic resonance that the real complexity, and indeed value, lies within the photograph. Editor: Indeed, an exploration that transcends merely the image, echoing through our present-day ideas and material production of images.