Gezicht op de Vallée de Sans-Souci in de Auvergne 1903 - 1907

Curator: This photograph by Delizy, taken between 1903 and 1907, presents a view of the Vallée de Sans-Souci in the Auvergne region. The Rijksmuseum is its current home. Editor: It's immediately striking, this sepia landscape, dense and brooding. It almost feels like a stage set, with that interplay of light and shadow, foreground and background. Curator: Indeed. The composition demonstrates a careful balance. Note how Delizy employs Pictorialist techniques. The soft focus, the tonal range, it evokes a painterly quality, moving photography beyond mere documentation toward artistic expression. The artist is manipulating the material. Editor: Absolutely. Looking closely, it is fascinating to consider the labour of image-making in this period. What chemicals were used, what sort of glass plates? And the very act of transporting those cumbersome materials to a location such as this to capture it from that perspective. That valley might also house untold histories of material extraction too, quarries to mine stone, or iron ore, affecting that very landscape we are observing. Curator: An insightful point. Though the image itself primarily speaks through its formal arrangement and the careful deployment of light and dark, the velvety texture further enhancing the mood of serenity. Consider also the gaze it invites: The composition directs the eye through a sequence of planes, from the detailed foreground up to the more softly rendered heights, playing on ideas of perspective. Editor: And, speaking of seeing, let’s not forget the context. While the elite were travelling the globe, new modes of transportation also provided local inhabitants to travel more than they ever could previously. The ability of everyday individuals to appreciate such vistas or maybe even a romanticised photograph such as this—an escapist dream, away from industrial toil in urban spaces, into a carefully composed artifice of the rural sublime. Curator: Well put. The convergence of both technical skill and artistic intention create a work of real atmospheric and visual depth. Editor: A piece where photographic artistry meets complex materiality in fascinating ways, for sure.