[Group with Horse-Drawn Carriage] 1890s

Christian Barthelmess made this photograph of a group with a horse-drawn carriage sometime in the late nineteenth century. In this period, the American West was undergoing rapid transformation due to westward expansion. The image depicts a group of people, seemingly middle class, posed in and around a horse-drawn carriage. The photograph is visually coded with signs of the era: the clothing, the carriage itself, and the open landscape. It's fascinating to consider what this image meant to those who commissioned it, and what it might mean to us now. Was it intended as a celebration of progress, or a reflection on changing social dynamics? To truly understand the photograph, we need to delve into the history of photography itself, the social history of the American West, and the visual culture of the time. Through careful research, we can uncover the complex layers of meaning embedded within this seemingly simple image.