Berglandschap, huis en bankje met vers, april 1933, Baden-Baden 1933 - 1934

These evocative photographs were taken by the Wachenheimer family in Baden-Baden in April 1933, and look at that striking monochromatic palette! I imagine the photographer carefully composing each shot, framing the landscape, a house, and a bench with that inscription—a favorite spot. There is so much light and shade in this intimate album page, which documents the physical world of this family. It reminds me of how Gerhard Richter collected photos for his "Atlas", but the personal element is even stronger here. What was it like to carefully arrange these photographs and paste them into an album? What were they thinking when they selected these particular views? These quiet images almost become stand-ins for family memories, or maybe even the memories themselves. And the way the black and white tones interact… Photography, like painting, invites a prolonged gaze and embraces the ambiguities of memory.