Gezicht op Frankfurt am Main 1860 - 1870

Editor: We are looking at Charles Soulier’s “Gezicht op Frankfurt am Main,” an albumen print, likely created sometime between 1860 and 1870. The monochromatic, detailed rooftops stretching into the distance give a sense of a bustling, concentrated city. What stands out to you in terms of the photograph's role within its historical moment? Curator: The albumen print process itself is deeply entwined with 19th-century European expansion and colonial administration. Photography played a key role in documenting, cataloging, and essentially 'owning' the visual representation of cities like Frankfurt and faraway lands. This image is ostensibly neutral, just a cityscape, but who was commissioning such views? What purpose did they serve? Editor: So, it’s not just a picture of Frankfurt, it's a picture *for* someone? Curator: Precisely. Photography in this era wasn’t readily accessible. An image like this might have been commissioned by the city itself, by wealthy patrons eager to display their civic pride, or even for intelligence purposes. Consider the level of detail captured – this information had considerable value beyond mere aesthetics. Who was given the privilege of such viewpoints? Where would this photograph be displayed, and for whom? Editor: I see. It shifts my perspective, thinking about access and intention instead of just the surface of the image. Curator: Absolutely. Thinking about the social and political context helps unpack what a seemingly straightforward image might tell us about the power structures of its time. It highlights the photograph’s original and continued roles in visualizing and codifying urban spaces. Editor: Thanks, I’m seeing this landscape in a totally different way now – much more complex and considered. Curator: And that deeper understanding is the real reward! We have looked at the way the photograph actively worked in a society structured by politics and power.