Gezicht op een tunnel van de Col de la Schlucht before 1894

Editor: This is "Gezicht op een tunnel van de Col de la Schlucht", a gelatin silver print by Charles Bernhoeft, created before 1894. It’s a photograph of a road tunnel carved into a mountainside. It’s stark and emphasizes the solid geometry, like nature, engineering, and black-and-white tones working together to highlight mass and light. What compositional aspects stand out to you? Curator: The stark contrast between the sharply defined, geometrically precise tunnel and the rugged, seemingly untouched rock face is most intriguing. Consider how Bernhoeft frames the scene: the tunnel's circular void acts as a focal point, drawing the viewer's gaze inward. The texture, inherent in the gelatin silver print, amplifies this interplay. Do you see how the light illuminates one side, emphasizing form and materiality? Editor: Yes, it almost seems staged in how perfectly the light reflects on the entrance while everything around it blends into texture. The road itself provides such a severe horizontal slash between organic chaos on the mountainside. The photographer highlights and arranges visual information within the scene. Why that tunnel, why this arrangement? Curator: Precisely. It seems Bernhoeft is presenting a kind of visual problem—the contrast is certainly there, the composition is certainly structured. Perhaps it underscores human intervention or, at least, emphasizes the dialogue between nature and the built environment using formal contrast. Can you think of examples where that visual vocabulary can exist? Editor: The dialogue makes it come across as both, especially since Bernhoeft gives almost equal compositional weight to the mountain and the built environment. I'll look more at this tension and how the choice of materiality impacts the photograph as a medium. Curator: An excellent pursuit, using formalism to create an art historical frame!