Bergbeklimmers in Chamonix 1870 - 1900

Curator: Welcome. This is a gelatin silver print from between 1870 and 1900, titled “Bergbeklimmers in Chamonix,” or “Mountaineers in Chamonix," by Florentin Charnaux. Editor: It gives me the shivers! There's something so raw and daunting about that rock face. It emphasizes the climbers’ vulnerability, particularly given the grayscale. Curator: Absolutely. Charnaux's approach here uses the inherent textures and gradations of silver gelatin to render the imposing scale of the mountain with fidelity. The tonal range allows a study of light as it hits each geological variation of the slope. Editor: Right, but there’s also this tension that speaks to a very specific cultural moment, where mountain climbing was becoming a symbol of masculine triumph over nature, often excluding marginalized bodies and experiences. Curator: Precisely. Yet, the composition is hardly propagandistic; instead, it underscores a romantic pursuit tempered by realism. There's an elegant structural clarity, how the mountain's steep diagonal pulls the eye upwards, with the climbers dispersed across the terrain. Editor: Dispersed, yes, and appearing isolated from one another, almost insignificant. I can't help but wonder about access and privilege—the resources needed to undertake such a climb in that era, especially in terms of the socio-economic power dynamics that underpinned explorations like this. Curator: What interests me further is how Charnaux's perspective shapes the photograph's emotional effect. From the arrangement of light and dark to the spatial composition of shapes within the frame, one can't ignore the romanticism that he infuses the medium with. Editor: It’s a compelling intersection. These individuals against such unforgiving terrain, framed at a distance and rendered via what we understand of Chamonix today… the artwork embodies that 19th-century dance between the personal and the sublime. Curator: Yes, viewing this gelatin print, one can appreciate both the photographic medium’s objectivity alongside humanity’s continuing ambition for spatial and physical challenge. Editor: A chilling but ultimately captivating piece that asks us to re-examine our relationships to each other and the environment that surrounds us.