Wintersportvakantie in Semmering, Oostenrijk Possibly 1930 - 1932

This photograph album, Wintersportvakantie in Semmering, Oostenrijk, by Berti Hoppe feels like a found object, a collection of black and white vacation memories assembled with care. There's a tactile quality to this image, isn't there? I'm drawn to the visible texture of the paper in the original photographs. The way the four white framed images are arranged on the dark grey page creates a satisfying rhythm, a grid, a kind of visual poem of a snowy holiday. Take the photograph of the 'Hotel Erherzog Johann,' for instance. The way the light catches the snow on the rooftops and the road, the blurred figure of a person walking with a dog. It's like Hoppe captured a fleeting moment. The grainy texture of the print, combined with the composition, gives the whole piece a sense of nostalgia. It’s like peeking into someone else's memory. In a way, this album feels like a precursor to some of Gerhard Richter’s photo-paintings, where the source material is always present. Like Richter's work, Hoppe’s album embraces ambiguity, suggesting stories without ever fully revealing them.