Kaiserstallung in Neurenberg 1868 - 1888

Curator: Johann Friedrich Stiehm gives us "Kaiserstallung in Neurenberg," captured between 1868 and 1888 using the albumen print process. A photograph of a formidable stone structure. It definitely has some stories hidden within its walls! What is your impression? Editor: Austerity! Those stone walls, that severe roofline... it breathes old-world practicality and strategic defense. You can almost feel the chill radiating from the stone. But what stories did those walls truly tell for the people who built it, toiled around it? Curator: Ah, yes, you pick up on that immediate aura. It feels steadfast, a bulwark against the storms of history. What strikes me is the light—the subtle play of sun and shadow animating the unyielding stone, lending it an almost soulful quality. It makes me wonder about Stiehm himself. Editor: Absolutely. And considering this is an albumen print, we need to think about the actual work involved. The preparing the glass negatives, coating the paper with egg whites... each print a careful dance between craft and chemistry. It underscores the value we used to find in objects laboriously brought into existence. It is fascinating to see an old process applied to what feels like timeless architecture. Curator: It brings me back to craftsmanship. There's a human touch that almost modern photography can lack—a collaboration, really, between the photographer and the very materials he’s employing. Maybe this contributes to what moves me emotionally. It's not just seeing the fortress; it’s feeling the artist's hand. Editor: That’s beautifully said. But also, the image becomes a commodity, exchanged, collected, valued... part of a network. Who owned this print, I wonder? Where did it circulate, and what did it signify to its various owners? The physical object as part of something bigger. Curator: A tiny window offering a vista upon social relationships as well as the Nuremberg cityscape! To sum it up, there is some intangible link between Stiehm's vision and the story he wished to reveal and ours. Editor: Indeed, from egg to empire, a material journey.