Gezicht op de Trinkhalle in Baden-Baden, Duitsland 1860 - 1865

This stereoscopic photograph of the Trinkhalle in Baden-Baden, Germany, was made by Hippolyte Jouvin, sometime in the mid-19th century. It is a fascinating example of the photographic process, which was still relatively new at the time. Notice how the card is printed with two nearly identical images side by side; when viewed through a stereoscope, these would have combined to create an illusion of three-dimensionality. Beyond this trick of perception, consider the social context of the photograph. Images like this were luxury items, made possible by the rise of industrial manufacturing and aimed at a growing middle class with leisure time. The photograph turns the building itself into a commodity, a souvenir of an experience or perhaps a prompt to visit Baden-Baden. And its classical architecture reminds us of the desire to associate leisure, and capitalism, with the high culture of the past.