Tell me a story

As one of the new forms of representation of the urban, and not only the royal and aristocratic family, the wedding portrait has become very popular since the second half of the 19th century. What distinguishes all urban wedding photographs is the special emphasis on the value of the visual document and at the same time the idealized image of the marital union.

Wedding photographs in domestic studios, starting from the mid-1960s, are most often shaped as double portraits, in which the young couple is presented in a representative way. In the 19th century, these photographs functioned as a visual testimony to the marriage. Later, with the changes in family relations, wedding photographs also became a more casual and less formal image.

Through wedding photographs it is possible to represent the institution of marriage in which strict social rules were applied. One of the basic social functions of the marital community is to provide offspring, and the main role of the wife was to give birth to the heir of the family name, to raise and educate children and take care of the household. If a married couple could not have children, they would often divorce.

On the back of a wedding photograph of Adam and Stojana Andonović, dated September 14, 1896, there is a poetic record written by Stojana after the divorce in 1901, in which she expressed her pain and sorrow.

Adam and Stojana Andonović

“The two dear ones met on September 14, 1896, and parted on January 20, 1901.

Replace me with a better new one, you will never fill this empty space.

I will remember the lovely days of our beautiful friendship, I will always remember you and I beg you to call me. S.A.

This image could be deleted

but the image in my heart will last forever“

The uniqueness of each photograph is that it describes exactly that time in which it was taken. The marriage of Adam and Stojana did not last, but the two of them in this photo from the collection of the Regional Museum of Jagodina will stay together forever.