Portret van een jong meisje met een trommel op een stoel 1880 - 1890

Editor: Here we have “Portret van een jong meisje met een trommel op een stoel,” or "Portrait of a young girl with a drum on a chair," a gelatin silver print from between 1880 and 1890 by Joseph Maes. She's quite a solemn looking child. I wonder what was going through her head at that moment. What strikes you when you look at this, from a different perspective? Curator: You know, there's a certain poetry in these old photographs, a captured stillness that speaks volumes. The formality, of course, reflects the era. It wasn't an everyday occurrence to have your picture taken. And children were to be seen and not heard, so no smiles. Do you see how carefully everything is arranged? It speaks to the values of that time. Tell me, what story do you think she might be telling with her silence? Editor: That's interesting – a constructed silence. Maybe she’s not silent at all. She’s on a little stage! The drum suggests potential noise. Curator: Exactly! And she's chosen to stand there, drum in hand. Consider the light too, notice how it softens everything, it reminds me of gazing into a clouded mirror where what you perceive, is always going to be an echo of your inner state. Perhaps this isn’t just a portrait, but a stage for imagining endless possibilities. Editor: I didn’t really think about it as a chosen thing before – like a decision. That makes me look at it differently, think about all the things the artist was maybe hoping to suggest by her stillness. Curator: Precisely! It's a beautiful reminder that art is rarely about answers, but always about questions.