Het kindermeisje van de familie Wachenheimer op haar verjaardag, 2 juli 1933, Stuttgart Possibly 1933 - 1937

This photograph shows the Wachenheimer family’s nanny on her birthday, in Stuttgart, on July 2nd, 1933. The image itself is small format, black and white, likely captured with a relatively simple camera. The tones are soft, the composition straightforward: we are looking at a candid, personal moment. Yet the material of photography itself deserves our attention. Unlike painting or sculpture, which are unique handmade objects, photography offered the possibility of easy reproduction. As such, it was quickly embraced by both commercial and amateur users alike. In this case, we might consider the labor involved not so much that of the photographer, but of the nanny herself. Domestic workers often become deeply enmeshed with the families that employ them. It would have been her work that permitted the family to enjoy the leisure time suggested by this picture, a seemingly casual commemoration. Ultimately, the photograph is not just a record of a birthday, but a testament to the complex social dynamics of the time. It reminds us that even the most seemingly personal objects are always embedded in a wider web of labor, class, and context.