Portret van een man in uniform 1880 - 1920

Editor: Here we have "Portret van een man in uniform," taken sometime between 1880 and 1920, by E.H. Roberts. It's a gelatin silver print photograph displayed in a decorated album. It strikes me as a rather formal and stiff portrait. What can you tell me about the way this was made? Curator: Looking at the materials—the gelatin silver print, a relatively modern photographic process for its time—we can start to consider the industrialization of photography itself. How accessible would such portraits have been and to whom? Editor: So you're saying that the materiality of the image impacts who gets to participate in image making? Curator: Precisely. This process allowed for mass production, influencing the accessibility and consumption of portraiture. Think about the subject—a man in uniform. The image captures a moment within a military context and consider what it means to be produced en masse as tokens or memories. Do you see the hand-crafted album that houses it? Editor: Yes, it seems so ornate and in contrast to the black and white photograph within. It's like a unique holder of a replicable thing. Curator: It's interesting that you picked up on that tension! What labor went into the album versus the gelatin silver print? Also, why this image? Is it familial? Celebratory of military achievements? What does this sort of photography tell us about power, status, and even loss during wartime? The portrait itself is just one part of a larger context surrounding the process of photographic creation. Editor: That's a fascinating angle; I was focused on the sitter's expression and how it was indicative of that period in time. It helps to consider all of the work and layers involved. Thanks so much! Curator: My pleasure! Seeing these works from multiple points of view brings a wealth of understanding to our analysis.