Portret van een onbekende man 1900 - 1914

This is a portrait of an unknown man, captured by H. Klupfel using photographic materials. The image is printed on a rectangular card, a common format for studio portraits at the time. Photography, as a technology, democratized image-making. It moved portraiture away from the exclusive realm of painting to a more accessible medium, available to the rising middle class. The subject's pose, attire, and the studio backdrop all speak to a desire for upward mobility, carefully constructed and consumed as part of a burgeoning culture of self-representation. The photographer's labor is also notable; arranging the subject, manipulating light, developing the print, and retouching. This commercial transaction makes photography part of a wider industrial context, blurring the lines between art, craft, and manufacture. Appreciating the social and economic conditions of its making gives us a richer understanding of photography's place in visual culture.