Untitled (two portraits of toddler seated at table, one carrying a doll) c. 1940

Curator: This image, currently titled "Untitled," is by John Deusing, and it presents two portraits of a toddler seated at a table, one clutching a doll. It's located at the Harvard Art Museums. Editor: The first thing I see is this stark contrast between light and dark, creating a slightly unsettling yet intriguing effect. It's like peering into a forgotten corner of childhood. Curator: Absolutely, the negative space emphasizes the toddler's presence, almost isolating them. I wonder if the duplication was a deliberate choice to comment on identity formation or perhaps societal expectations of children. Editor: Or it could simply be a technical artifact of early photographic processes. Either way, it's impossible to ignore the staging of innocence; the doll, the frilly dress... It speaks volumes about the construction of childhood in visual culture. Curator: Yes, and the absence of background or identifying details forces us to focus on the toddler as a symbol, perhaps a commentary on the universal experiences of early childhood or maybe Deusing's personal sentiments about his child. Editor: Agreed, and it is this tension between the particular and the universal that keeps drawing me back to the image, long after my initial uneasy feeling has faded. The piece feels almost like a ghost photograph.