Exterieur van de Bains de Salut te Bagnères-de-Bigorre c. 1860 - 1880

Curator: Immediately, I notice the symmetrical composition—it feels very stage-like. Editor: Indeed, it's quite deliberate. What we're seeing here is a vintage albumen print titled "Exterieur van de Bains de Salut te Bagnères-de-Bigorre" by Ernest Eléonor Pierre Lamy, dating roughly from 1860 to 1880. Curator: An albumen print, so the image is created from coating paper with egg whites... Fascinating. I'm struck by how this process captures a feeling of aged refinement. You can almost feel the smoothness. Editor: The choice of location says so much. Bagnères-de-Bigorre was already a well-known spa town in the Pyrenees. Lamy is presenting this bath house—this site of leisure and supposed healing—as a commodity. The “Views of the Pyrenees” printed along the edge makes that intention explicit. Curator: Absolutely. And thinking about the materials, this albumen print, mass produced, available to purchase. Photography was becoming more accessible, a tangible luxury good alongside the promise of health and wellness represented by the Bains de Salut. Editor: Exactly. These images reinforced the popularity of the location, shaping public perception and solidifying its place within the tourist landscape. Look how the rigid geometric shape of the bathhouse contrasts with the foliage! This Romantic landscape almost bends to the will of commercial interest. Curator: You're right; even the lighting seems carefully managed to enhance the architectural details and almost…sell the location to the viewer. It makes you wonder about the labor involved in both the spa and the photograph itself. Editor: The commodification of health, nature, even light itself. These stereo views gave consumers in Paris and London the sense that they were experiencing something authentic while simultaneously participating in its economic transformation. Curator: An object of leisure, creating a space that beckons rest and a Romantic escape from modern life—in the perfect mass produced format to deliver this aspiration into homes of distant customers. Editor: Lamy gives us the perfect artifact to consider art’s impact on public imagination and our relationship with commodity culture. Curator: And to truly reflect upon the materiality of how such cultural longings materialize through artistic mediums.