Fotoreproductie van een getekend post-mortem portret van een onbekende vrouw c. 1865 - 1900

Editor: Here we have a gelatin silver print titled, "Photoreproduction of a Drawn Post-Mortem Portrait of an Unknown Woman," dating roughly between 1865 and 1900, by Laurens Lodewijk Kleijn. There’s a definite eerie beauty to this work. The contrast is quite stark, drawing my eye immediately to the profile of the woman. What strikes you when you view this work? Curator: It's compelling how the reproduction of a drawing using photography further abstracts the subject, and consider what this implies regarding consumption and memory. What was the economic drive behind producing multiples of death portraits? What labor went into creating the original drawing and then reproducing it? Editor: So, it’s not just about preserving a memory, but also the business of death, in a way. How does the materiality of the photograph itself—the gelatin silver print—play into this? Curator: Precisely! Gelatin silver prints were relatively new at the time. Think about the social implications of this technology. It democratized image production and potentially widened access to memorialization. The object's survival speaks to shifting consumption habits; these photos were made to be traded. Do you consider this a photograph or merely a historical document? Editor: That is fascinating. I hadn’t thought about that aspect. Maybe both? Thinking about its physical fragility, seeing how it's aged with the gelatin wearing away is itself, in some ways, a kind of memento mori. Thank you! Curator: Absolutely! Considering the image's place in history is one key element. By centering the process and materiality of the work, you understand how our very ideas about art itself are constructs of labor, industry and capital.