Wintersportvakantie in Semmering, Oostenrijk Possibly 1930 - 1932

This is Berti Hoppe's photo album page from Winter in Semmering, Austria. The photographs are black and white and arranged on a dark gray page. It seems like a personal project, an intimate collection of visual memories. The images are small, and each one meticulously documents a different aspect of the winter landscape. The texture is tangible; the snow looks crisp and undisturbed. The lack of color urges you to focus on the shapes, the architectural details, and the stark contrast between light and shadow. There's a particular image of a church, “kirche”, where the stark architecture is softened by the blanket of snow and feels like a delicate balance between the man-made and the natural world. This album reminds me a little of the work of Gerhard Richter’s atlas, in the way that both artists explore themes of memory, documentation, and the subjective nature of perception. Like any artwork, it embraces ambiguity and is open to multiple interpretations.