Portret van twee onbekende vrouwen met schorten 1904 - 1910

Editor: Here we have "Portret van twee onbekende vrouwen met schorten", or "Portrait of two unknown women with aprons", a photograph taken between 1904 and 1910, by David Holmqvist. What strikes me immediately is the crispness, the detail in their clothing. There’s something both formal and strangely intimate about it. What do you see in this piece? Curator: You know, when I look at them, I imagine I'm peering into the past, right? The stiff poses and plain, light-colored dresses tell us one thing, but their eyes… They hint at secrets. It’s like looking at my great-grandmother – who were they, really? Did they dream of adventure beyond those aprons? Maybe even some romance, a touch of scandal… And photography during this period--it had a strange magic to it. Think about it - to stop time, to preserve these ephemeral human existences! Don't you just want to know their story? Editor: Absolutely! The aprons especially tell such a story of daily life, almost genre-like. The picture makes me think about who got to be remembered in history… and who didn’t. Was this an early kind of self-portrait, a way of claiming a space in history for these women? Curator: Maybe it *is* their monument. In the quiet composition, the deliberate framing, I imagine them wanting to leave something of themselves for the future. What will people make of it in another hundred years, eh? What stories will *they* invent? Editor: It is so evocative to consider the photograph like that. I love how much depth and story can come from one old photo. Thank you! Curator: My pleasure! Isn't that the magic of art – we are never done finding something new, something of ourselves in it.