Boer op het land met een zeis before 1898

Editor: This is "Boer op het land met een zeis," a gelatin silver print made before 1898 by Gustave Marissiaux. There’s such a soft, almost dreamlike quality to the landscape, and the figure of the farmer seems very solitary. What stands out to you when you look at it? Curator: What strikes me is the overt romanticism, the deliberate harking back to older notions of agrarian life. The “genre painting” aspect that’s been applied as a theme gives the viewer a very biased, one might even say propagandistic idea about rural labor. Notice the photographic style itself. Editor: Pictorialism? Curator: Precisely. It imitates painting, with its soft focus, carefully arranged composition. And in doing so, it participates in a discourse— prevalent at the time—that sought to elevate photography to the level of "high art." Editor: So it's trying to say something about photography itself? Curator: Indeed. By visually aligning itself with established genres and techniques of fine art, it aimed to gain acceptance within art institutions and validate photography's role within them, so what social and cultural narrative might be further pushed by promoting genre and rurality? What were the exhibition practices surrounding works such as this during its original presentation? Editor: I never considered how much the presentation itself could be a statement. I will definitely keep the cultural environment in mind next time! Curator: Understanding these works within their social and art historical contexts adds a lot more depth, doesn't it?