Untitled (portrait of a man in a top hat) c. 1940

Curator: This is an untitled portrait of a man in a top hat by John Deusing, part of the Harvard Art Museums collection. Editor: It’s striking how the negative almost makes him look like a ghostly dandy, all crisp lines and eerie luminescence. Curator: The top hat, the three-piece suit... it speaks volumes about status. The image is heavy with turn-of-the-century ambition and the weight of societal expectations. Editor: And the cracked plate adds another layer, a reminder of time's passage and the fragility of memory. Curator: Absolutely. It’s a window into a specific era, carefully constructed yet somehow incomplete. It invites us to imagine the sitter's story, his hopes and anxieties. Editor: It truly does feel like catching a glimpse of a life frozen, a moment still echoing across time.