Portret van een zittende man in een jas c. 1860 - 1890

Editor: This is "Portret van een zittende man in een jas" by Wegner & Mottu, dating from about 1860 to 1890. It’s a gelatin silver print. The man seems formally posed, almost staged. How do you see this portrait? Curator: Well, the very act of *making* this image screams "material." Gelatin silver prints democratized portraiture. We have to consider who had access to this technology. Was it primarily the bourgeois class documenting its rise, asserting its place? Editor: So, photography changed how people recorded their existence, who got to be recorded? Curator: Exactly. Think about the labor involved, too. This wasn’t just pressing a button. There was a whole industry supporting this - photographers, manufacturers of photographic materials, even the textile industry providing the clothing on display here. Editor: It's almost like a document of production, showing not just the man but the whole system around him. I see now how fashion and the means of creating that fashion is a key part of the art. Curator: Precisely. The mass production of goods, the rise of photography… these things intertwined to shape both art and society. What stories can we tell when looking at these elements, and not just the sitter? Editor: So, thinking about the production of images can illuminate so much more about society during the rise of photography and industrial manufacturing? Curator: Right. This image becomes less about the man and more about the process that made him visible. Editor: That gives me so much to think about when considering images!