The trials of the day are over 1905

Curator: Underwood & Underwood’s photograph, "The trials of the day are over", made in 1905. It is currently in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Editor: Oh, that’s utterly charming! The tender repose...It has such a nostalgic feel, like a cherished memory glimpsed through a haze of years. The child sleeping peacefully with their cats is something of a vision. Curator: Indeed. The print's creation is fascinating, particularly considering the duo, Underwood & Underwood, was better known for its stereoscopic images distributed on a mass scale. It brings to question how "art" like this circulated at the time alongside news imagery. It prompts an investigation of period expectations surrounding child labor and their comforts. Editor: Mass scale distribution of the image also influences its effect, doesn't it? Knowing so many would have access shifts the private intimacy that one can detect initially and alters the emotional landscape entirely, making the experience somewhat "reproducible" within many different households across social levels. Curator: Exactly, a shift from singular art object to widely available visual commodity is a major consideration in media and art history. The hand-printed photograph makes its process immediately apparent as well; we notice the material support, its imperfections. We may notice what paper types or tones or chemical processes of reproduction and preservation went into that, how available they were, what it was supposed to last, et cetera. Editor: I love imagining this in a Victorian home. I can almost feel the warmth of the hearth and smell the lavender in the air! And that patterned wallpaper! It all whispers stories, each cat curled up asleep another detail. Such quiet drama...makes you yearn. It has the air of old fairy tales. Curator: It really begs exploration beyond sentimental notions of childhood or sleep; this photograph performs essential historical functions regarding the material circumstances of production. How labor or commercial practices intersect with what constitutes art or even comfort. Editor: Yes, there's real complexity here that I missed at first glance. That it has made me question so much, for me, makes it art. Curator: I agree completely! An exploration such as this, and more importantly how it challenges preconceived categories around commerce and aesthetics – that defines materialist investigation at its best!