Steigerend paard met ruiter before 1898

Curator: This albumen print, captured before 1898 by Stevenson & Ogilvie, showcases a "Steigerend paard met ruiter"–a rearing horse and rider. It's striking, wouldn’t you say? Editor: My immediate response is centered on the balance of tensions within the image: the dynamism of the horse starkly contrasts with what seems to be an open, yet arid and rather anonymous background. Curator: Indeed. The image’s formal composition–the horse nearly bisecting the frame vertically, its dramatic posture creating a diagonal tension– speaks volumes about its deliberate construction, especially when coupled with the rider. Do you perceive the work as attempting to evoke a specific sentiment? Editor: The making of albumen prints is not a clean or straightforward process and it brings to mind various industrial processes in regards to photographic reproduction and the albumen is a rather crude animal ingredient that could very well relate to equestrian sports or the military in the sense that they too, operate using animals in crude form for transport. In other words, the social conditions surrounding equestrian exercises during this period most certainly echo how we interpret the form here, given its chosen ingredients. Curator: Interesting…and difficult to reconcile without external resources as you say, this process reveals aspects about society, that perhaps, otherwise might have passed on unspoken. Yet the very material properties themselves impact our interaction with the final product on visual terms: the warm tone imparted by the albumen, and the depth given to the scene are all there to be carefully decoded. I also can't help but notice how this process gives this snapshot an aesthetic gloss and that only this process in particular achieves such an effect. It is far more difficult to read into without carefully engaging with the various ways in which "light" becomes material in the work. Editor: Exactly, this visual element emerges via means we often ignore in the creation process: labor, and ingredients are always overlooked for the pure joy that the light casts onto its chosen object or subject. But the albumen serves as both a medium and a reminder of these complex origins and how they relate to social customs like horse riding. Curator: Yes, very well stated. I’m finding my own appreciation deepened through this awareness of the layered meanings inherent in the materiality. It is always important to understand how those layers construct and relate to what ends up in front of you. Editor: Absolutely. Considering those historical-social implications and raw materiality provides insight and clarity toward what otherwise may have been lost when observing Stevenson & Ogilvie’s snapshot, otherwise!