Portret van een vrouw 1875 - 1899

Curator: Here we have a photographic print, “Portret van een vrouw,” or “Portrait of a Woman,” dating from sometime between 1875 and 1899. The albumen print process employed was widespread during that period. Editor: She seems lost in thought, doesn’t she? The soft sepia tones, the oval frame… there's an undeniable aura of Victorian melancholy. A kind of fading beauty. Curator: Right, albumen prints like this are made by coating paper with a mixture of egg whites and salt, then sensitizing it with silver nitrate. It was a mass produced technique that helped democratize image making during the late 19th century, so you see many studios like Cornand et Cie offering this kind of work. Editor: It feels very personal though, doesn’t it? Despite being one of many such studio shots made using repetitive methods, she’s still unique. I wonder what the conditions were for her sitting there, gazing slightly past us. Were such photographs displayed only at home, or offered as gifts too? I imagine such work empowered those previously locked out of painted portraiture, both commissioners and workers in photography's supply chain. Curator: Exactly. The materials, labor and production costs became available at a price where an ever greater number of people could afford to commission personal art. Not just to be a customer either—the democratization of processes opened the art world up as an industry for others to find employment. It's fascinating how technology shapes consumption, creation and culture all at once, so people can commemorate or document things like likeness using novel techniques. Editor: I suppose that helps remove some of the melancholic feelings it gives me… she’s an actor within this history, the image being one still frozen in time. Almost dreamlike in the hazy image quality. A reminder of how technology mediates memory. Curator: Well, examining it through these perspectives perhaps deepens the experience, revealing these often-unseen undercurrents beneath an art work's surface appearance. Editor: Indeed. What a privilege to briefly know her in such a way.