Portret van een militair c. 1900 - 1920

Curator: The portrait here, of a military man, was created by Jac. Schotel Szn. somewhere around 1900 and 1920, and rendered with photography printed in the realistic style. Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by how staged this photograph is. Everything is meticulously composed to project an image of power, discipline, and authority. He even has white gloves. Curator: Right, consider the socio-political forces that shaped military portraiture at the turn of the century. Images like these were frequently used as propaganda. The question remains: what story does it tell, and for whom? What hierarchies are being subtly, or perhaps not so subtly, enforced here? Editor: I think it shows us how constructed gender and masculinity could be, through codes of dress and posed posture. What this officer is 'performing' is clearly about an appeal to status and masculine prowess tied up with militaristic service. He becomes, effectively, a cog in a very powerful machine. Curator: His clothing signifies his participation in institutional structures, a part of a nation’s militarized force—also a cultural and social symbol. How do we interpret the portrait through a contemporary understanding of power dynamics? Does seeing this photograph evoke questions about complicity and militarism today? Editor: Absolutely. And the lack of dynamism in the photo, this stiffness and rigidity, might show the human cost extracted for that position of symbolic strength and command. What, or who, does his control cost? What are the implications of his 'duty' and 'service'? Curator: Reflecting on this image now, I see a complex web of cultural values, revealing assumptions we have around nationhood, service, and what that means for concepts of gender, and masculine identity. Editor: Yes, looking at the way in which the institution of the military is performed visually through a portrait gives rise to meaningful questions. The man is captured and he himself is doing the capturing in order to advance that same machine.