Portret van monsieur Chapuis before 1875

Editor: Here we have a mixed media print entitled "Portret van monsieur Chapuis," attributed to Albert Delabarre from before 1875. It's printed on paper, and from the image it looks like it might incorporate photography. The stark contrast makes me think of early newsprint. What strikes you about this piece? Curator: The combination of media is key here. We see photography, printmaking, and what looks like graphic design all existing on the same page. This wasn’t high art striving for the illusion of reality, but a utilitarian combination. It brings attention to the modes of reproduction at the time, and to who had access to those modes. Think about the materiality of this piece - the ink, the paper, the printing press itself – who owned them? What was the social context? Editor: So you're saying it is not only about the portrait but also about how easily reproducible the portrait is and who gets the portrait? Curator: Exactly. The materiality itself makes it something that's accessible. Notice it's presented within a Brussels theater advert – Chapuis likely paid for the image's placement. That brings up the relationship between art, labor, and commerce. The “realism” tag is interesting; the photo gives the veneer of it but is really another form of labor commodified. Editor: That's fascinating. I didn't initially think about the cost of creating an image like that, and how it speaks to notions of class and the labor involved in image production at the time. Curator: Consider that mixed-media allowed for mass production, influencing access and affordability. Was realism the aim or commerce? What’s the social currency of a portrait, reproduced in this manner, in the 1870s? That brings it alive, doesn’t it? Editor: Definitely! Thanks for broadening my perspective. Now I’m seeing the portrait as embedded in economic and material systems that dictated its form.