Portret van een onbekende zittende vrouw 1868 - 1870

This is a photograph of an unknown woman, made by S. van Caspel & Stapert. The image itself, a relatively small rectangle of coated paper, is the result of a complex chemical process. Photography in the 19th century was at the cutting edge of both science and industry, but the real labor wasn't in the darkroom. It was in the mines that extracted silver, in the factories that made the lenses and cameras, and, perhaps most of all, in the sewing rooms where garments like the sitter’s were assembled. The dress, with its elaborate embroidery, speaks to a highly stratified system of production. The photograph flattens all of that labor and material into a single image. But thinking about the sheer amount of work, embodied in this one small photograph, is crucial to understanding its full significance. It challenges our assumptions about the making of images, and the boundaries between fine art and the world of production.