Wandelaars in de omgeving van Bex, Zwitserland c. 1865 - 1885

Editor: Here we have "Wanderers in the Bex Region, Switzerland" taken sometime between 1865 and 1885 by Ernest Eléonor Pierre Lamy. It's a photograph, presented in what looks like a family album. The sepia tones create this lovely, nostalgic feeling. How would you interpret this piece? Curator: For me, it's fascinating to consider this photograph not just as a record of a specific place or moment, but as a product of a burgeoning industrial landscape. Think about the labor involved – from mining the silver for the photographic emulsion, to manufacturing the camera itself, and even producing the paper it’s printed on. The Romantic landscape aesthetic is being consumed and captured, commodified, really, through the technology of the time. Editor: That’s an interesting perspective! I hadn’t really considered the industrial aspect. Curator: Consider also the subjects. Who are these “wanderers”? Are they leisurely tourists enabled by new rail lines, or perhaps locals whose livelihoods were impacted by these changes? Their attire, their position within the composition... all are elements that carry coded information. Editor: So you're saying that even a seemingly straightforward landscape photo reveals complex economic and social dynamics? Curator: Precisely! Photography democratized art, of course. The means of production change the accessibility of capturing and owning an image. Suddenly, recording the beauty of nature becomes linked to the global material economy and social structures of its time. This single image becomes enmeshed in an array of making, manufacturing, consumption. How might we then look at other mediums differently through that lens? Editor: That makes you look at everything in the image in a totally different light. Thanks, I will keep this in mind. Curator: Of course. Considering art from a Materialist lens provides so much room to learn!