Drie gezichten op sculpturen in de tuinen van de École Nationale Superieure d'Horticulture in Versailles, Frankrijk before 1900

Curator: This intriguing gelatin-silver print captures three distinct perspectives on sculpture residing in the gardens of the École Nationale Supérieure d'Horticulture in Versailles, dating from before 1900. Editor: Wow, my first thought is melancholy. There's a formality, a coldness to the stone against the almost ghostly sky. But also, a hidden, intriguing little mystery tucked into these views, you know? Curator: The work is listed as an anonymous photograph, so we cannot be sure who conceptualized these views. These images likely speak to late 19th-century attitudes regarding landscape, class, and power manifested in garden design. The sculptures represent individuals in positions of historical and social power. Editor: Absolutely, you feel that stiff upper lip of the era radiating off the images. Look at the group of chaps casually loafing near one of the sculptures, as though posing in front of a monument, they seem at once relaxed and yet utterly framed by the stoicism behind them. I wonder what stories they are taking from those historical figures looming over them, or ignoring them entirely. Curator: That very contrast you point out could be seen as challenging traditional portraiture and history, even satirizing the seriousness that those figures in sculpture were given during their time. Are they truly being revered, or are the changing times beginning to push against these imposing men, recontextualizing them into another framework of time and space? Editor: Precisely. It’s as if time is poking fun. Here they are, these stony gods, still holding court but now sharing the stage with slouching youngsters, or becoming glorified backdrops to modern life. But I find the playful fountain most interesting with its strange beasts and cherubic figures frozen in an almost grotesque dance. Curator: Indeed, we can see here, captured for us over a century later, how such artworks can continue to inspire and transform across diverse interpretations and communities, offering unique social, aesthetic, and philosophical points of engagement. Editor: Yes, what lingers isn't just what the image depicts, but the invisible dance between then and now, tradition and change—echoes captured in a fleeting silver print. It has changed how I'm seeing things!