Vrouw schrijft een brief in een interieur before 1897

Editor: This is "Vrouw schrijft een brief in een interieur," taken before 1897 by Kusakabe Kimbei. It's a hand-colored collotype photograph currently residing at the Rijksmuseum. There’s a beautiful, almost painterly quality to the scene… but something feels a bit staged to me. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: The staged feeling, I think, comes from that delicious dance between authenticity and artifice. Look at the objects carefully arranged: the writing box, the scroll… they whisper stories of Japonisme, that European craze for all things Japanese. It makes you wonder about who this woman truly is and what role she's playing. Do you feel a sense of quietude radiating from her posture, from the colours? Editor: Definitely quietude! The soft, muted colors add to that, almost like a watercolor painting. And that scroll is immense, I wonder what it contains? Curator: Right! What emotions is she pouring onto that page? Perhaps anxieties, love confessions? The vagueness invites us to create our own version. Also, notice how Kimbei uses light, it is not as clear or objective like European photographs of the same time! Editor: It does feel softer, like it’s intentionally obscuring detail for a mood. Thinking about her story, and that light… it adds a whole new layer of complexity to my understanding of the photograph. Curator: Yes, it’s in these layers that the art blossoms. That is when this isn't just a photograph. Is becomes poetry written in light and shadows. What story do you take away with you? Editor: I think I'm left wondering about the story behind the performance and if the actual reality can ever align with the version one shares of oneself to the world. Curator: I love it, I am wondering if that will be included on her next letter!