Gezicht op een straat in Brussel in de winter before 1901

Curator: Editor: This is an intriguing image called "Gezicht op een straat in Brussel in de winter," dated before 1901, and created using photography, likely printed. The city scene gives such a bleak, but interesting tone. What stands out to you? Curator: The photographic print offers a specific insight into the urban experience and the technology that captures it. Before 1901, photography was transforming how we understood cities, impacting their representational function in broader culture. Let's think about the photographer, Leon Bovier. What social class would have access to photography and the equipment to create it at the turn of the century? Editor: I imagine only those of significant means would be able to partake, especially since the print is showcased in a book. Would the subject and city it’s taken in say anything about its target audience? Curator: Precisely! How is daily labor visually displayed here? Who is present? The material act of photography, especially the development process back then, involved toxic chemicals and specific skills. Editor: I noticed the lone figure under an umbrella in the foreground; the cabs transporting people deeper in the photograph, and all the unmentioned faces blurred together. The creation of this, alongside all other societal mechanisms at the time, seem highly reliant on exploiting the many for the benefit of the few. Curator: The final print on a book page makes it accessible to wider, presumably middle or upper-class audiences to disseminate particular experiences through photograph. It highlights the way that labor, material production, and artistic creation are fundamentally linked, as well as their ability to reflect or shape particular socio-economic dynamics. Editor: Seeing it this way highlights the role of even simple photography in reflecting social power. Thank you. Curator: Thank you for the conversation; I think you really honed into the core theme that encapsulates it.