Gezicht op de Volksgarten in Wenen, Oostenrijk 1866 - 1900

Editor: Here we have an intriguing photographic print, "Gezicht op de Volksgarten in Wenen, Oostenrijk", sometime between 1866 and 1900, by M. Frankenstein & Co. It has this wonderful air of ordered tranquility, but with a strange ghostly haze to it, I think that it has a quiet dreaminess. What catches your eye when you look at this photograph? Curator: That spectral quality speaks volumes, doesn’t it? It’s a peek into a bygone world, slightly out of focus, a memory struggling to sharpen itself. I am curious to find what might have it held back from that clear sharp imagery to better represent an early version of Vienna through photography, it allows you to find the little gems in photography. It feels like peering through a veil. Does it conjure a certain emotional tone for you? Editor: It makes me feel nostalgic for a place and time I never knew. Almost melancholic. Curator: Precisely! It captures the sentimentality Victorians felt towards classical beauty, with that temple hinting at an idealized past. And the ironwork – strong, but delicate – almost seems to cage in those feelings. What does the composition tell you about how people viewed nature back then? Editor: I guess that nature was a little curated, arranged how you wanted. But it felt so romantic that there was a sense of awe. Curator: Beautifully put. And remember, photography at this time was evolving, capturing the world with a new kind of lens, a kind of art, wouldn’t you agree? The artist captures that, there’s that attempt at poetry in this depiction. It's far from a mere snapshot. It truly captures and offers something truly creative. Editor: I never thought about how revolutionary photography must have felt. I definitely see the romance and how deliberately curated it all is! It is truly the capturing of that point in time. Thank you!