Gezicht op het Palais du Pharo te Marseille 1862 - 1876

Curator: Let's turn our attention to "Gezicht op het Palais du Pharo te Marseille" a stereoscopic daguerreotype attributed to Jean Andrieu and thought to have been made between 1862 and 1876. Editor: What strikes me is how immediate the composition is, yet distanced. It feels documentary but somehow dreamlike at the same time. Curator: The photomontage format here is interesting, isn't it? It became quite popular at that time; photographs were cheap to reproduce so they circulated among many more people. Stereoscopic photographs such as this one, presented viewers with an almost hyper-realistic vision, or at least the promise of a more complete experience of viewing. Editor: Yes, you see that intense depth immediately. Look at how the stark diagonals of the cliff and embankment are balanced with the receding horizontal lines of the Palais. Curator: What’s particularly revealing here is that Palais du Pharo in Marseilles was built on the orders of Napoleon III, so images like these fed into a careful orchestration of the Imperial image. Photography became intrinsically linked with Empire-building, acting as both document and public relations exercise. Editor: Do you think this portrayal of progress and power diminishes the natural landscape, or perhaps romanticizes it? It almost feels like a staged theater set! Curator: I think that dichotomy is inherent to its production. The building itself is romantic, evocative of ancient grandeur, yet it’s also intended to signify progress, imperial strength and civic virtue. The photograph both highlights and contains the tension inherent in the empire itself. Editor: Thinking about that visual tension has truly helped me appreciate what at first just seemed a rigid composition. Curator: It highlights how constructed photographic "reality" can be, which brings new nuance to our appreciation.