Portret van een zittende man met snor 1863 - 1890

Eduard François Georges created this portrait of a seated man with a mustache, as a part of a larger album. The photograph is a window into the era of burgeoning photography, a period that democratized portraiture. In this small image, we see a man posed formally, his mustache a deliberate statement of masculinity. Consider how identity, particularly that of gender and class, were carefully constructed and performed in 19th-century photography. The man's posture and clothing speak volumes about the social expectations of bourgeois respectability. While the image might seem like a simple depiction, it captures the nuances of identity, the sitter’s self-awareness, and the photographer's role in shaping that representation. It also reveals our continuous fascination with self-image and the stories we tell through our appearances.