Gezicht op een Joods etablissement in Hannover 1868 - 1890

Editor: Here we have “Gezicht op een Joods etablissement in Hannover,” a photograph, probably albumen print, created sometime between 1868 and 1890 by Georg Reese. It depicts what appears to be a social scene outside a building, maybe a restaurant. The detail is really interesting; you can almost imagine the conversations happening. I’m curious, what catches your eye in this image? Curator: Well, let's start with the material. An albumen print from the late 19th century—it speaks volumes about the production and consumption of images at that time. Albumen printing was a fairly elaborate chemical process involving coating paper with egg whites to create a smooth surface. It suggests a certain investment, a perceived value placed on the photographic image. Who was consuming these images, and how did this process contribute to the object’s social status? Was it accessible or mostly reserved for the wealthy? Editor: That's a great point; the materials themselves tell a story about who had access and the value placed on representation. Curator: Exactly. Then there’s the architectural subject matter, the etablissement itself. What kind of labor and resources went into creating such a building in that period? Can we tell anything about the status of the Jewish community based on its structure? It also begs to think about the relationship between architecture, photography, and power. What is this photograph saying, visually, and economically, about the place of Jewish life in Hannover at that time? Editor: That raises important questions about representation and the context in which these images were produced and consumed. So looking at the albumen print method, understanding the means of production, helps unlock some of the nuances regarding wealth, access, and even the status of the subjects being photographed. Curator: Precisely. And that gives us a whole different insight to a work that seems at first like just an historic photograph.