Gezicht op Cannes en de Baai van Cannes c. 1871 - 1872

Curator: This is Eugène Degand’s "View of Cannes and the Bay of Cannes," a gelatin-silver print made sometime around 1871 or 1872. Editor: What strikes me first is this gorgeous sepia tone. It's soft, dreamy... like a faded memory of a vacation you took ages ago, where everything tasted like sunshine. Curator: The photograph captures Cannes in its burgeoning stage as a resort town. Consider the composition – Degand positions us high above, almost as a tourist gazing down at the emerging paradise. Photography at this time served a vital role in promoting destinations to elite travelers. Editor: I’m less interested in what it was promoting, and more how it *feels*. Look at those figures clustered at the bottom, they're almost like ghosts! Little groups and knots of people frozen forever in time. It lends the scene a curious stillness. Curator: That’s pictorialism creeping in—where the photographic process is used for artistic effect. The slightly soft focus and carefully composed scene suggest a painterly ambition beyond mere documentation. This technique romanticizes Cannes as an aesthetic experience as much as a destination. Editor: Do you think these little people are self-aware, existing only for art? They’re completely upstaged by this lush bay and yet they lend scale to this little world! It feels performative; posed just so in this perfect vista...almost like they are acting like "locals". Curator: Performance or reality, they highlight the dynamic between leisure and labor, visible in this transitional urban space. It's about observing the codes of class, seeing the very wealthy creating a playground that depends on local activity. Editor: Maybe so, but the art's hazy aesthetic takes the edge off anything that might feel critical of leisure; and focuses the narrative around some eternal sunshine. And perhaps in that regard Degrand really sold the "destination". Curator: I think what this image successfully illustrates is the role photography played in defining what it meant to experience a place like Cannes. Editor: Right... And as an old photo of Cannes, it becomes about reflecting how perception shifts across time. What the image promised then... Versus what it delivers as art for our now!