Trektocht in de Oostenrijkse Alpen 1930 - 1938

Editor: This is a page from an album, “Trektocht in de Oostenrijkse Alpen,” or Hiking Tour in the Austrian Alps, by Berti Hoppe, sometime between 1930 and 1938. These are albumen prints documenting different points in the landscape, with hand-written captions in German. I’m immediately struck by how these seemingly simple, candid shots capture the grandeur of the Alps, yet there’s also this very deliberate composition. How would you interpret this work? Curator: Certainly, let us consider the formal properties present within this arrangement. We have a series of distinct, individual photographs contained within the larger frame of the album page, forming a meta-composition. The artist guides the viewer’s eye via juxtapositions of light and shadow, achieved through monochrome photographic printing. Each photo presents its own perspective. Does that sequencing elicit a sense of progression in your view? Editor: I think so! It does suggest a journey unfolding across the page, like following a trail upwards through different terrains and views. I notice in all these shots, the human presence is relatively diminutive within such a powerful natural landscape, even when hikers appear in some of the frames. Curator: Precisely. Note how Hoppe balances geometric precision with organic textures to explore the relationship between the individual and nature. Consider, as well, the flatness intrinsic to the photographic image; even as perspective is offered through landscape, these are flattened planes. What effect might that flattening have? Editor: It perhaps emphasizes the documentarian quality, rather than being overly sentimental about the view. It makes it feel grounded. The album itself becomes almost like a topographical map, charting not just locations, but moments in time. Curator: I concur, the work uses photographic formal components as coordinates within that system you proposed. I will remember that notion as quite revealing.