Exterieur van Hotel Metropole te Wenen before 1878

This photographic print of the Hotel Metropole in Vienna was created by Josef Löwy sometime during his career. It is a straightforward albumen print, a process that was very popular in the 19th century. What strikes me most is the connection between the subject of the image, and the image itself, both products of a specific economic moment. Hotel Metropole, like so many grand hotels of the era, stood as a testament to bourgeois ambition and comfort. Meanwhile, the mass production of photography was also facilitated by industrial capitalism and technological innovation. Albumen printing, while beautiful, was labor intensive, involving coating paper with egg whites before applying the photographic emulsion. The combination of the two speaks volumes. Both the hotel and the photograph are material testaments to a particular society's desires, achievements, and yes, also its exploitation. It prompts reflection on how photography, much like architecture, could be harnessed to express a wide range of human experience.