Voorgevel van Grand Hôtel des Pins et Continental in Arcachon 1897

Curator: This photograph captures the Grand Hôtel des Pins et Continental in Arcachon, taken around 1897. Editor: My first impression is that it exudes an atmosphere of faded grandeur. There is a feeling of serenity and quietude, even though it is of a relatively busy, large hotel. The sepia tone only reinforces this impression. Curator: Delizy, the photographer, skillfully employs a plein-air technique here. During that time, Arcachon was experiencing rapid growth as a resort town, fueled by the emerging middle class. The hotels became symbols of societal aspirations and leisure. Editor: Right, and visually, the photograph evokes that period so clearly. The Grand Hotel itself, with its multiple levels and projecting balconies, becomes a symbol of affluence and modernity, which, from my viewpoint, feels like a ladder upwards toward enlightenment. Look how symmetry here emphasizes social stability. Curator: Exactly, hotels in newly fashionable seaside destinations also played a role in promoting ideologies and cultural values of that rising middle class. The fact that they felt safe and at home while still surrounded by a new surrounding. Editor: Notice the signs flanking the building's entrance indicating modern amenities—a telephone and an elevator! It’s fascinating how technology and comfort were becoming increasingly intertwined with the experience of leisure. This is a sign of prosperity. Curator: Absolutely, and hotels provided social spaces, particularly for women who enjoyed more freedom here, even during this period, than within traditional home life. This allowed hotels to grow in symbolic importance, which attracted the visitors. Editor: These kinds of symbols, while being indicative of the current state of a society, also influence the population to try to obtain those kinds of things to signal they too belong in said social groups. I'd also argue it’s a clever marketing tactic, a quiet appeal to upward mobility. Curator: Thinking about it now, this image, though static, captures a period of transition where hotels symbolized opportunity, prosperity, social progress. Editor: It makes you wonder what dreams those very hotel walls might have sheltered and witnessed...