Portret van een baby in stoel 1906 - 1911

Curator: So, this particular gem is a vintage photograph, aptly titled 'Portret van een baby in stoel' or, 'Portrait of a Baby in a Chair.' It's believed to have been captured sometime between 1906 and 1911, by L. Coltof & Co. Editor: It's surprisingly…stark, isn't it? Despite the obviously sweet subject, the light, or lack thereof, lends a melancholic air. And the rigid pose. Curator: The rigidity speaks to photographic practices of the time. Lengthy exposures meant stillness was key, but beyond technique, consider the social framework. These portraits acted as historical records but also solidified the child's identity within a very specific familial structure. A visual anchor in their world, one carefully constructed by the parents. Editor: Anchored, indeed. The very formal chair in contrast to the obvious baby-ness, feels staged, almost as if the parents are trying to give the baby a seriousness they don't possess. Almost aspirational in its desire for upward mobility. What's really compelling here is the intersection of power, family, and societal expectation being impressed even upon someone so small and new to the world. Curator: True! It is this rigid pose that speaks of a very bourgeois ambition and aesthetic sensibility that really doesn’t speak to childhood in the present moment. Think of today, we’re snapping photos of our kids climbing trees and making messes, a radical change to this careful, cultivated image! This studio sought to give their clients that air of respectability, and in this image we feel, deeply, this almost comical tension, almost making it not serious! Editor: It brings up questions around what "dignity" and "respectability" meant then, who had access to them, and at what cost. The child is more an artifact, in service of something else entirely. Is it merely sentimental record-keeping, or something much deeper involving self-preservation? Curator: It’s certainly given me a new perspective. Beyond the photograph, there’s an entire social narrative unfolding about who got to participate in idealized versions of family. Editor: Absolutely. These visual artifacts reveal so much more than a single person – it exposes entire worlds. The chair is interesting. The plant and flowers and framing within the album feel significant. I wonder who cared enough to create such an elaborate display!