Blik vanuit hotel Selighof op een berglandschap, en oom Stephan op een trap, april-augustus 1933, Baden-Baden Possibly 1933 - 1934

This page of photographs was created by the Wachenheimer family in Baden-Baden between April and August 1933. The grey-scale palette feels considered, each image has a distinct tonality, like shades of memory. It is a tonal poem about place and belonging. I'm drawn to the photograph of Uncle Stephan. He's perched on some steps, looking pensive. The light catches the edges of his glasses, and the subtle gradations in the concrete behind him almost give the image a sculptural quality. It reminds me of some of Gerhard Richter’s black and white paintings made from photographs. You know, that blurred effect. But here it is inherent in the medium, in the analogue process. Looking at the album page as a whole, with its handwritten labels, it reads like a storyboard or a series of studies for a larger, unfulfilled project. Like a sketchbook, the images suggest an openness to chance and an acceptance of imperfection, which, paradoxically, becomes their strength. This is a visual conversation across time, a story that invites us to add our own layers of meaning.