Atles Museum in Berlin 1868 - 1870

Curator: Gazing at this gelatin silver print, taken between 1868 and 1870 by Johann Friedrich Stiehm, one sees the imposing structure of the Atles Museum in Berlin, rendered in stark neoclassical grandeur. The rigorous arrangement of the columns, the severe geometry… it speaks of Enlightenment ideals, doesn't it? Editor: Yes, utterly imposing, like a temple guarding secrets. It's formal, but strangely stark. Bare trees and that cobbled square amplify a sense of… solemn emptiness, almost a premonition. Curator: Stiehm captures not merely the facade, but also an entire ideology materialized in stone. The columns aren't simply architectural supports; they are representative of civic virtue and order, echoes of antiquity meant to legitimize the modern state. Consider the technical choices – the stark lighting which emphasizes the mathematical precision. Editor: The light feels oppressive too, it enhances that temple-like quality you mentioned. But think about it - someone walking through that space, on those very cobbles! Was it bustling with intellect and art, or already feeling like a monument to times gone by? It makes you want to wander in. Curator: The print as a whole becomes a study in contrasts – the 'living' city space versus the ‘frozen’ monument. It encapsulates the ambivalence inherent in Neoclassicism. There's an order there, an insistence on reason over feeling… almost forced. Editor: And what secrets were held inside, back then, compared to now? Or, perhaps the greatest treasures are simply the shadows playing on those stern columns. It's almost a stage set! Curator: Indeed. A stage for ideas. And in its photographic rendering, Stiehm offers us not just a portrait of a building, but a critical discourse on its purpose. Editor: Exactly. So, it looks like what felt oppressive to me now turns out to suggest how cultural power looks through time, whether that is reason or any other construct of power in our society. Fascinating.