Portret van een onbekende Groningse student in maskeradekostuum 1886 - 1897

Berend Mulder made this photographic print of an unknown student in Groningen, in masquerade costume. This type of photographic print was a relatively accessible medium, which allowed the sitter and the artist to experiment with costume and identity. The student wears an elaborate and ornate style of clothing associated with the elite classes, a common theme in masquerade. The costume itself would have involved the labor of tailors, seamstresses and embroiders, and the skilled work of wig-makers and sword smiths. Mulder would have been reliant on the chemical industries for the production of the photographic materials, and his business depended on the networks of commerce and consumption that defined modern urban life. The photograph flattens all these material considerations into a single image, that nonetheless retains a trace of the complex social relations that made it possible. This serves as a reminder that even seemingly straightforward images are the result of multifaceted processes, involving materials, labor, and cultural context.