Marie Jordan naakt op de rug gezien c. 1890

Curator: Well, hello there. What a treasure we have before us: George Hendrik Breitner’s photograph, “Marie Jordan naakt op de rug gezien,” from around 1890, a gelatin-silver print currently housed at the Rijksmuseum. Quite the mouthful, isn't it? What do you think, from the outside? Editor: Hauntingly intimate, I’d say. The sepia tones lend an aura of the past, of course, but there's also a certain vulnerability conveyed by the woman’s pose. It's so private. You feel you're not supposed to be looking at the image. Curator: That vulnerability, as you call it, feels very deliberate. Breitner, known for his gritty cityscapes, clearly aimed for a different emotional landscape here. The Rückenakt, or “back view,” a traditional, academic theme. Editor: Yes, but there’s a significant departure from convention here. Academic nudes tend to idealize; this feels almost uncomfortably real, a study in realism. Note how the figure is integrated with the composition instead of filling out its spaces; observe also how her features and surroundings lack detail. In an aesthetic tension between sharp and out-of-focus imagery that evokes uncertainty. Curator: Almost like he is trying to not see certain details of the scene; as if those do not even exist, are unimportant to the point of view; or not essential for him, as a person, as he is constructing and remembering her image from life. It is interesting he decides to do this in photographic mode, and that is maybe how this is supposed to come across as both artificial, yet so deeply, painfully intimate. The textures… they just pop out! What a marvelous way of portraying something that stays away from what it is representing; just shadows and gestures instead! Editor: Precisely. We have this incredibly material and detailed rendition of the setting, like the curtain-filtered daylight or the objects resting near the window—juxtaposed against this soft, unassertive figure; both inform each other to project us into an uncertain mood. It really subverts what one might expect from photography at the time; this gelatin-silver print, with its almost painterly feel, truly blurs those boundaries. Curator: Absolutely. The soft focus, it pushes the photograph out of pure recording and right into emotion and memory. Editor: Which reminds me, its very modernity still holds up well; it invites viewers to engage with its layered representation even now! Curator: I agree. Let's leave it at that! What a trip.