Drie portretten van vrouwen 1900 - 1930

Curator: Here we have "Drie portretten van vrouwen," or "Three Portraits of Women," a photographic work, circa 1900-1930, attributed to Georg Gerlach & Co. What’s your first impression? Editor: They strike me as wistful. The framing of each portrait isolates the subject. Their eyes don't quite meet yours, their gazes slightly averted... there's an air of almost Victorian constraint. Curator: Exactly. These photographic portraits were very much shaped by social and institutional forces. This was the era of mass production of images, influencing concepts of celebrity, femininity, and the "ideal" woman, don't you think? Editor: Yes. And what’s compelling is how these images simultaneously empower and objectify. The subjects seem complicit in performing this elevated role, costumed in elaborate hats, posed demurely… How much agency did they truly possess in shaping their own representation? What was the societal expectation of the sitter, or more profoundly, the women photographed by this company at this period? Curator: Those are exactly the right questions to be asking! Their elaborate costuming also alludes to fashion's significance during the period. It also speaks to larger questions about femininity in the early twentieth century. To think that fashion acted to some extent as another element for how women's roles were prescribed. Editor: Absolutely, it's a layered dialogue, this image, with gender and status performed through dress and adornment. As it challenges the viewer to think more critically about the era, the portraits remain so compelling and enduring as artistic artefacts in their own right. Curator: A keen reminder of the multiple roles that a photograph and photographer assumed through history. It reminds me, looking at them, to revisit assumptions.