Fotoreproductie van een foto door Heinrich Kühn, voorstellend schapen in een wei before 1907

Curator: Here we have a photogravure reproduction of a photograph by Heinrich Kühn, titled "Schafe in der Campagna Romana," or "Sheep in the Roman Campagna," predating 1907. It is a very serene landscape showing grazing sheep. Editor: Yes, the tranquility is palpable. How do you interpret this work within the context of its time? Curator: The Pictorialist movement, to which Kühn belonged, sought to elevate photography to the status of art, pushing back against the growing acceptance of photography as a purely mechanical process. How does it sit with you, knowing they manipulated images, often blurring them, to resemble paintings? Editor: It's interesting. On one hand, the pursuit of artistic legitimacy is understandable. On the other, shouldn't photography embrace its own unique qualities rather than trying to imitate painting? Curator: That's a valid question. It's also important to recognize that Kühn and other Pictorialists operated within a specific socio-economic context. Their mostly upper-class backgrounds and social status allowed for access to materials, leisure to contemplate and create, and the networks through which they could legitimise their artistic endeavours. In what way does their view differ from how working-class communities saw photography, used to record everyday occurrences? Editor: It does recontextualize it! So, seeing this idyllic image today, knowing its origins in Pictorialism, forces us to confront questions about the very nature of art, its class and economic associations, and how these things change across history. Thanks for sharing your insights! Curator: It makes us reconsider not just what we are viewing but whose perspectives and experiences were–and weren’t–historically privileged, and continue to be. It is all so much richer seen within a broader history.