Untitled (Two Women) 1839 - 1860

Curator: Let’s turn our attention to an “Untitled” piece of the mid-19th century, a daguerreotype of two women now held at The Art Institute of Chicago. What strikes you first about this portrait? Editor: That ornate gold frame! It’s almost as much a statement as the women themselves. And the stillness in their faces… a palpable sense of held breath, of a moment stretched thin. Curator: Daguerreotypes, with their long exposure times, often captured a certain seriousness, even solemnity. Photography at this time was, after all, about display as much as it was about preserving moments. The rigid poses and stern expressions of portrait sitters in daguerreotypes reinforced their dignity, social status, and values within the public sphere. Editor: It makes me wonder, though, about the unrecorded laughter, the playful interactions edited out. There’s a poignancy knowing what we *don't* see, the story behind the solemn faces staring back at us through the lens. Curator: What we do see is shaped by the very specific technological and cultural moment in which it was created, the rise of photography and a society interested in both commemorating the past and publicly perform the present. These photographic portraits helped normalize family representation, disseminating widely held bourgeois notions. Editor: Right, those visual cues, like matching dark dresses—details, small but meaningful in their presentation. This feels intimate, yet the conventions of the era cast a certain cool remove, an almost archetypal rendering of womanhood at the time. What did it feel like to inhabit that prescribed, photographic performance? Curator: In this image, the interplay of formal presentation and potential intimacy is intriguing precisely because it is constrained within the historical context of gendered representation of the mid-19th century. Editor: A fascinating glimpse into history, indeed. These women—anonymous faces but, through the photograph, witnesses to history staring back. Curator: An intriguing glimpse into a visual performance that defined the rise of the middle class, as it circulated family imagery as a core part of modern life.