Deur in het Paleis van Fontainebleau c. 1875 - 1900

Curator: Editor: This photograph, "Deur in het Paleis van Fontainebleau" by Médéric Mieusement, was taken sometime between 1875 and 1900. It looks so opulent and precise! The ornate door and the surrounding architecture fill the frame. What stands out to you about this image? Curator: What immediately grabs my attention is the context of labor and class embedded in this photograph. The excessive detail didn't simply manifest, but results from deliberate artistic choices. These doors weren't created in a vacuum; instead, many hands shaped those embellishments, implying hierarchies between designer, patron, and worker. Editor: So, you’re saying it's not just a picture of a door but evidence of social and economic relationships? Curator: Exactly. The door becomes less about aesthetics and more about the conditions of its creation. How might the individual craftsman's skill and toil relate to notions of “high art” that often overshadow the production of such detailed work? It compels me to question the distinctions of labor itself. Do you think it makes a political statement? Editor: I hadn't considered that perspective at all! The intensive labor would have likely been anonymous, the craftsman’s skill subsumed by the overall design and the name of the artist taking the photograph. But it could highlight these injustices, by its very attention to the detail. Curator: Precisely! Mieusement gives the workers some attention, even indirectly. And with the rise of photography as a democratic medium during that time, access to grand architecture changed for the common people. Now anyone could get this image for a modest fee. Editor: This has changed my perception of the photograph entirely. It’s not just a beautiful image but an insight into labor, class, and even the democratization of art through photography. Thank you! Curator: And I'm also newly aware of how much social context imbues everyday architectural design, thanks to your perspectives.