Gezicht op de Spitzkoepfe en le Hohneck bij Metzeral before 1894

Charles Bernhoeft made this photograph of the Spitzkoepfe and le Hohneck near Metzeral. Here we see the meeting of a burgeoning tourist industry with the rural subject matter that it often sought. This image creates meaning through its depiction of the Vosges region. Its thatched buildings and mountainous geography speak to the enduring values of the countryside, but the photograph itself implies something new. Bernhoeft was based in Luxembourg. He ran a studio, and took commissions from wealthy clients. In the late nineteenth century, photography became a tool for promoting tourism, and feeding the urban population’s appetite for idealized rural imagery. Historical archives can give us a sense of the social and institutional context around artworks like this. The history of photography can be understood as a series of such relationships, as new technologies transform the ways in which people see themselves and the world around them.