Untitled (woman in floral dress with little girl on lap, holding hands, silver bowl of roses to left) after 1940

This photograph, by Paul Gittings, captures a woman in a floral dress with a little girl on her lap. In a studio environment, Gittings created this image using a large format camera, a device that demands a slow, deliberate approach. This process, dependent on the skilled labor of developing the negative, involves a balance between technical precision and artistic vision. The silver bowl of roses in the left foreground is an interesting detail. In contrast to the softness of the roses and the domesticity of the family scene, the cool tonality of the silver brings a sense of formality to the image. Gittings’ portrait sits within a wider culture of photography, one that democratized image-making while still retaining the aura of exclusivity for those who could afford it. Such portraits were acts of careful construction, material records of social identity, capturing not just likeness but also aspirations. The photograph reminds us that all images are made, and that these processes are always freighted with cultural meaning.