Loentje Onnen met vriendinnen op een tennisbaan 1911 - 1912

Curator: This is a photograph, taken sometime between 1911 and 1912, entitled "Loentje Onnen met vriendinnen op een tennisbaan". Editor: It exudes such a serene, almost dreamlike quality. The sepia tones lend an immediate nostalgic atmosphere, don't you think? Curator: Indeed. Looking at the tonal range, the limited spectrum actually intensifies the focus on composition. Notice the way the photographer has framed each subject. They are arranged on a background seemingly devoid of context, to encourage your observation of posture, angle and the geometric structures that contain the forms. Editor: I see that, but to me this feels inherently feminine. It captures a specific moment in time when leisure became more accessible to women of a certain class. Playing tennis, gathering in groups...these activities speak to shifts in gender roles during the early 20th century. The very act of documenting these women claiming space through a typically masculine pass-time and sharing in comradery feels revolutionary. Curator: The formal rendering of these female figures allows you to make that claim, and the rendering itself is so essential to the understanding of photographic codes, what this moment represented within this family album, or what the work says as an artistic claim about this genre of image-making, you have the tools to engage with those discussions here through photographic artifice alone. Editor: The deliberate nature of the photo album, each image meticulously pasted and preserved. One can't ignore that material choice and what that may reveal about what the creator intended to commemorate. Here, sport, and women enjoying time spent together were very relevant things that somebody saw value in documenting at that moment in history, a key concept which deserves further recognition in studies about visual narratives. Curator: A fitting conclusion, perfectly encapsulating the rich visual syntax displayed and the complex relationship between form, time and the people it depicts. Editor: Ultimately a thought provoking portrayal and another critical view of modern life's transitions as well as it’s lasting imprint on society.