Portret van een vrouw met waaier, staand bij een stoel 1860 - 1890

This photograph, by Muñoz, depicts a woman standing next to a chair holding a fan. Images like this served as a public demonstration of middle-class status. The institutions of marriage and family are present here as much as the individual. Her dress and jewelry, combined with her posture, communicate the image of a respectable, elegant lady. The photographer and the woman are participating in an economy of images. The woman would have paid the photographer to take her picture. But in doing so, she also purchased membership into the visual culture of her time. Visual historians can gain valuable insight into the rituals, styles, and norms of the time by studying images like this. We can learn more about how the image creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations. After consulting archives of photography studios we can have a better understanding of art as something that is contingent on social and institutional context.