Portret van W. van der Linden Vos 1881 - 1901

Curator: This albumen print, crafted by the Cordes brothers sometime between 1881 and 1901, is entitled "Portret van W. van der Linden Vos." My first thought when viewing this piece is one of immense, even heartbreaking, vulnerability. Editor: I feel that too, the man’s gentle eyes offset by his rather formal attire...almost like he's playing a role. And those mutton chops – they are making a statement! Curator: In a way, every portrait is an exercise in assuming a role, isn’t it? Posing to project a particular image to posterity. Though there's an intimacy about the medium, given the necessary collaboration and nearness of photographer and subject, that seems at odds with role play, doesn’t it? Editor: It’s true – early photography held an allure beyond simply capturing a likeness. Think about the rise of photography, how quickly it usurped portrait painting, for the everyman... Suddenly capturing the visage of family and loved ones became more accessible, and created a surge in middle-class visual vernacular that was so powerful. I almost wonder about that—what does such sudden democratization mean for the weight images carry? Curator: Exactly! That intersection of the intimate and the public... How sitters used photography to project authority in the same way a painted portrait once had… The formality of this portrait clashes slightly with the fragility in his eyes, as if the photograph has accidentally stolen a glance at his soul, not just his suit. Editor: Perhaps that’s what makes this work resonate still today, the raw, honest tension simmering beneath a veneer of rigid social structure and the dawn of readily-available representation. That in between-ness holds something haunting. Curator: I think you've put your finger on it precisely; what is revealed when formal representation cannot quite hide what lies beneath, both personally, and within society itself. A moment captured, suspended between what was and what might become. Editor: So next time you're pondering your public self, come have a chat with Mr. Vos—he may surprise you with his modern, complicated humanity.