Portret van Hendrik Filips van Bourbon-Orléans before 1892

Curator: Oh, this photograph has a hushed quality to it, almost ghostly. Editor: It certainly does. Here we see a page opened from a publication containing a portrait of Hendrik Filips van Bourbon-Orléans. It predates 1892. Curator: The portrait's mood is undeniably formal, yet the lighting...it's so soft. It's printed on paper, right? Is that the key to this almost fragile impression it leaves? Editor: Yes, indeed. It's a printed photograph, so the materiality speaks to the means of its dissemination at the time. Print culture and the availability of images—that's what I'm drawn to. How would an image like this circulated? Who was it supposed to reach? Curator: Oh, I adore thinking of how far images can travel. This photograph...it has a narrative quality that transcends time and location. Looking at this open book, it invites pondering about the stories untold between its pages. Does the portrait resonate with you in that aspect? Editor: Absolutely. The arrangement itself – a face sandwiched by blocks of text, the whole embedded in the labor of publishing. One wants to examine the materiality of each of these things—paper stock, ink, typesetting—all reflecting different production practices and then their distribution for a larger political objective. It must tell an interesting story of Bourbon’s restoration or their position within a society rapidly changing! Curator: I get a sense of that tension as well; it evokes a feeling of longing, even confinement perhaps. Perhaps the photo in itself does the trick... Editor: Well said, both of us can delve into either image-making, societal functions, but at the very center of both perspectives is the human component. Curator: So true. It's been really interesting considering the various textures that reside even within something two-dimensional like this old book. Editor: Indeed. It highlights just how rich even a seemingly simple image can be, particularly when approached from a material and process-driven standpoint.