Fotoreproductie van The first step 1870 - 1890

Editor: This gelatin silver print, "Fotoreproductie van The First Step," made sometime between 1870 and 1890, captures a genre scene. The subject matter evokes this feeling of very intimate maternal love, and tenderness, almost staged or manufactured. How should we read it? Curator: It's interesting you pick up on the sense of manufactured intimacy. The photograph's staging offers a perfect window to examine Victorian ideals surrounding motherhood, this idea that the domestic sphere was a woman’s primary, and perhaps only, appropriate space. Editor: So, you're saying the image isn't just a sweet scene but a reflection of societal expectations? Curator: Precisely. Consider how the woman is positioned – indoors, focused entirely on the child. The title itself, "The First Step," emphasizes the mother’s role in nurturing development. But also, the woman appears very constrained and confined by these expectations, she cannot be anything other than that in this image. Don’t you agree? Editor: I see what you mean! It seems so posed and the soft focus adds to that. It’s like it’s not enough to just *be* a mother, one must also *perform* it. Almost as if the first step is both for the child and also stepping into this well-prescribed and inflexible gendered role. Curator: Exactly. The technology of photography, in turn, served to disseminate and reinforce these ideologies. This photo could easily be used to signal social status too. What are your thoughts about this? Editor: Thinking about the Romanticism tag… it challenges my initial assessment of “manufactured”, in that romanticizing domesticity seems to align more with social aspirations for a "soft" approach to gendered existence and roles. So, it reflects what late 19th-century society might want, as opposed to cold expectations? Curator: Yes! It is always both and many at the same time! It’s through these nuances that we gain deeper insight into the era's complex social fabric. I appreciate you pushing us toward a slightly less-cold read.