Untitled (two children with dolls on floral-printed couch) c. 1950

Curator: This intriguing image, taken by Lucian and Mary Brown, is simply titled "Untitled (two children with dolls on floral-printed couch)." The photo, small at just 5 by 4 inches, captures a moment of childhood stillness. Editor: My first impression is one of eerie quietude. The inverted tones give everything a spectral glow. It’s like a memory fading or a dream half-remembered. Curator: Absolutely. These photographic negatives, now part of the Harvard Art Museums collection, reveal how even domestic scenes become surreal under the gaze of the camera. Editor: The setting itself feels staged, almost theatrical. The floral couch, the window, the dolls—each detail contributes to this tableau of childhood innocence, but twisted. Curator: It’s interesting to think how the very act of photographing altered these children’s behavior, and our perception of them. It transformed an ordinary scene into something haunting. Editor: It's as though the image is a portal, inviting us to reconsider the boundaries between reality and imagination, presence and absence. A really compelling, uncanny photograph.