Untitled (bust length portrait of man with small moustache labeled Lyman Colt Josephs, A.B. 1875) 1874 - 1875

Curator: Oh, what a find! This is a portrait, quite diminutive, of Lyman Colt Josephs, taken by William Notman sometime around 1875, judging by the label of his A.B. Editor: It's striking how intimate it feels, like a whisper of a bygone era, but the material feels staged with the backdrop. Curator: It is interesting to consider Notman's studio practice. Think of the labor involved in preparing the chemicals, posing the sitter, printing, and mounting. It's a whole industry captured in this little rectangle. Editor: And that the image is only a fragment! The small moustache and the carefully chosen suit… such curated masculinity. I wonder what Lyman Josephs was really like? Curator: Perhaps he yearned to be captured just so, to freeze a moment of aspiration. Notman offered that service, and that is how they both live on in this very object. Editor: Makes you wonder about the stories these materials could tell, if only they could talk.