Untitled (group studio portrait: older couple and younger woman) 1934

Curator: This is an untitled group portrait by John Deusing, part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. It captures an older couple with a younger woman in what seems to be a formal setting. Editor: The image has a spectral quality; those white tones almost make them look like ghosts. Their clothes and the patterned carpet suggest a specific time and place, but the starkness obscures more than it reveals. Curator: The lack of specific date information makes interpretation trickier. Family portraits like these were often markers of social status, documenting familial bonds within a specific socio-economic framework. Editor: I see the woman in the center seated while the others stand. Seating is a potent symbol of status, even power. Is she being venerated or is it merely a sign of deference appropriate to her age and position? Curator: Or perhaps it is an allusion to Western portraiture traditions. The backdrop seems carefully constructed to imply luxury and a certain level of cultural sophistication through the decorative architecture. Editor: Ultimately, this picture asks us to look at the roles we play, and the performances we enact, within the family circle. Curator: A poignant reminder that the visual language of portraiture continues to shape our understanding of ourselves and others.