Portret van een onbekende man zittend in een stoel 1861 - 1870

Curator: What a perfectly composed piece. This is a gelatin silver print, dating from around 1861 to 1870, currently titled "Portret van een onbekende man zittend in een stoel," by Carl Jacob Malmberg. The materiality alone is fascinating. Editor: Hmm, there's a stillness that emanates from the photograph that’s kind of spooky. It feels like a silent movie, doesn't it? Like he might blink any second. I wonder who he was and why he needed this stiffy-posing, in this setting with the patterned carpet. Curator: It speaks to the rise of photography as a burgeoning, almost industrial, practice, particularly with the silver gelatin process. Notice how meticulously he's been placed to suggest authority. Consider the rise of the middle class, suddenly able to purchase representations of themselves that were previously restricted to the elite. He looks like he may be the emerging industrial middle class, seeking a seat at the table, hence the carpet... and book as symbolism? Editor: Absolutely. He exudes the confidence and certainty that must come with suddenly possessing such a solid identity as well, so many solid fabrics and surfaces. I also wonder about all that decorative fringe on his chair. Was that considered fashionable at the time, or what? There's something absurd about such deliberate attempts at framing identity, almost endearing when viewed through the distance of time. Curator: The chair's ornate style, alongside the book on the table, suggests his desire to showcase wealth and education – signifiers of respectability during that era. It reflects a changing social order and how individuals navigated these new visual economies. Editor: Yes, though that book just screams of a carefully placed prop, doesn't it? It gives the feeling as though he’d never read a word of it. Also that stark neutral backdrop places the sitter and its objects and surfaces squarely in focus. Curator: It is indeed meticulously calculated. Malmberg captured more than just a likeness; he's given us a cultural artifact embedded with the hopes and pretensions of a rising class, shaped by industrial processes of image-making. Editor: Well, looking at him, this man's photograph certainly stirred a strange sense of both admiration and unease in me. A peculiar little mirror held up to a very interesting period.