Le derrière 1860s

This photograph, ‘Le derrière’, was created by Pierre-Louis Pierson, sometime in the mid-19th century. Pierson was known for his lavish portraits of elites, and photography at this time was no simple snapshot. It was a slow, alchemical process. Glass plates were coated with light-sensitive emulsion and then exposed in the camera. This one has been printed as a salted paper print, a process that involves coating paper with a salt solution, then with silver nitrate, to create a light-sensitive surface. The resulting sepia tones feel quite soft, despite the clinical presentation. Consider how this tonality contrasts with the subject matter – a child’s bare back. Pierson was in fact obsessed with capturing the female form, but in this instance, the process asks us to look at photography as a material practice, one steeped in the era’s complex relationship to reproduction, labor, and the body. It's a reminder that even the most seemingly straightforward images are the result of careful construction.