Twee toegangsportalen van het Piaristenkloster te Wenen before 1894

Editor: So, this is a photograph of "Twee toegangsportalen van het Piaristenkloster te Wenen," or Two Entrance Portals of the Piarist Monastery in Vienna. It's dated before 1894 and attributed to an anonymous artist. I’m struck by the detail captured in the carvings surrounding the doors; it feels almost sculptural in its texture. What catches your eye in this piece? Curator: Well, immediately I'm thinking about the means of production. Photography at this time was far from simple. It required specialized knowledge, expensive equipment, and a significant time investment in developing and printing. We have to consider photography not just as art, but also as labor. Editor: That's a really interesting point. It definitely changes how you see the image. Does the academic-art style speak to this consideration in any way? Curator: Yes, academic art valued precision and documentation, we see here in the photographer meticulously capturing the details of the architecture. Think about the labor that went into producing the monastery itself. Each stone was quarried, transported, and set by hand. The ornamentation demanded skilled artisans. These photographs aren't just capturing beauty, they’re unintentionally documenting social stratification through craft. Do you see this contrast, between labor and consumption? Editor: I do. It’s interesting how the photograph almost flattens the complexities, yet also preserves that history. This print, a multiple, democratizes that single photographic image for circulation, too. Curator: Exactly. The print is the artifact that's consumable by the rising middle class. So, ultimately we aren't only considering artistic talent, but who had access, and the economic structures that underlied these buildings' production, and also this print’s reproduction. Editor: Thinking about photography in this light makes me realize how much we take the accessibility of image-making for granted today. Thank you! Curator: Likewise, it's valuable to revisit and remember that everything we perceive as an image comes loaded with social and material context.