Exterieur van het Théâtre San-Carlino te Arcachon 1862 - 1876

Jean Andrieu made this stereoscopic photograph of the Théâtre San-Carlino in Arcachon using an albumen print on card stock. The first thing that strikes you is the contrast between the industrial and the organic. The photographic process itself, an early form of mechanical reproduction, captures a building made from rough-hewn materials: timber, thatch, and roughly assembled stickwork. These elements combine to give the theater a rustic, almost primitive appearance. The labor involved in sourcing and shaping these materials would have been considerable, requiring skilled hands to transform raw resources into a functional structure. But consider, too, the social context. This theater was a leisure destination, part of the burgeoning culture of tourism and entertainment. So, this humble building, constructed through manual labor, was a place of amusement for the middle classes. It reminds us that even in the age of industrialization, the value of handcraft persisted, often in unexpected and complex ways.