Alban Berg en Helsingborg 1933

Curator: Here we have Trude Fleischmann's gelatin silver print, "Alban Berg en Helsingborg," taken in 1933. It is an intimate portrait of the composer, nestled within what seems to be an entire scrapbook page dedicated to him. Editor: What strikes me immediately is the somber, almost melancholic air of the portrait. Berg's face is tilted downward, bathed in this soft light that enhances every contour, every subtle hint of sorrow. It's incredibly evocative. Curator: Absolutely. Fleischmann's technical choices underscore this emotionality. The gelatin silver process lends the photograph its rich tonal range, allowing her to play with light and shadow to sculpt Berg's face. Note too the scrapbook context which includes a full body shot of the composer and some personal text which makes us reconsider the work not as an artistic print, but perhaps something shared or collected among friends or admirers. Editor: That added dimension—thinking of this image existing within a community, a circle of artists—changes everything, doesn't it? Suddenly it feels less like a formal portrait and more like a cherished keepsake, something handled and preserved over time. Almost a casual photograph rather than some perfectly manufactured portrait of a legend. It speaks of personal exchange between individuals in cultural fields, so in turn offers the audience today something similar. Curator: Precisely! And it’s essential to consider Fleischmann's own story too. A Viennese Jewish photographer, her career thrived amidst a burgeoning modernism but was, of course, cut short by the rise of National Socialism, so understanding her working conditions at this time offers an added context to this portrait. Editor: Considering all that…the artistry, the historical context, the quiet dignity captured in Berg's downcast gaze…this simple image seems to hold so much more within it, such resonance to our own historical conditions today. Curator: It serves as a poignant reminder of both the individual's story and the power of art to preserve fragments of history, lived experience. The very materiality of the scrapbook format makes the object, the content within the object, more intimate.