Portret van een twee vrouwen 1889 - 1894

Editor: This gelatin-silver print, "Portret van een twee vrouwen," by Jacques Daniël Rijk, from between 1889 and 1894, has an interesting muted quality, and feels almost ghostly. How would you interpret the image in terms of its materiality and creation process? Curator: The ghostly quality you noted speaks to the very nature of the gelatin-silver process. Consider the socio-economic conditions during that period, think about what was required in terms of accessing the technology of photography, the preparation of the materials. Editor: That’s interesting. What would a studio like Rijk’s have been like in terms of labor? Curator: Well, consider the roles required: photographers, certainly, but also assistants for preparing chemicals, developing prints, and retouching. Furthermore, where did he learn the chemical processes, and the control of materials and light to evoke the upper-class standing of the women being photographed? Was he concerned with portraiture as craft or art, or both? How might the mass production of photographs impacted notions of artistic skill or the sitter's value? Editor: It’s intriguing to consider photography not just as art but as industry, shaped by social forces. Thinking about its process helps unveil more than the apparent representation. Curator: Precisely. By analyzing the physical properties of the print and the context of its production, we move beyond mere aesthetic appreciation to understand the work as a product of labor, skill, and social circumstance. The materiality of photography becomes key. Editor: It reframes the photograph as evidence not just of the sitters but of a specific moment in technological and social history, reflecting access and production of imagery itself. Thank you.