Portret van twee onbekende kinderen verkleed in een matrozenpak 1900 - 1920

This sepia-toned photograph shows two children dressed in their finest clothes, probably taken in a studio sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century by Landén Larsson. There’s a wonderful formality to this kind of work. The children seem so serious, even though they’re all dressed up, maybe they weren’t allowed to smile? I think it’s that tension between the forced formality of the photographic process, and the everyday vulnerability of childhood, that makes this image so fascinating. I am drawn to the mark of the photographer, the way that they’ve posed the children, and caught the light. What kind of directions did they give? How did the children respond? The photograph is not just a record of an event but a document of a process. I’m reminded of the work of Lisette Model, whose images also capture a sense of fleeting human moments in time. I think photography, like painting, is so interesting because there are always multiple ways of seeing.