Gezicht op Bad Ischl, gezien vanaf de Calvarieberg Bad Ischl 1881 - 1892

This stereo card, "View of Bad Ischl from the Calvary mountain," was made by Würthle & Spinnhirn in Salzburg. The photographic print shows the town in sharp detail, offering a window into 19th-century Austria, and the rise of tourism as a mass phenomenon. Photography, as a process, democratized image-making. It relied on industrial production, both of the equipment itself and the standardized chemical processes required to make an image appear. The use of a stereo card format is crucial here. These were made to be viewed through a special device, giving a 3D effect that was considered extremely modern at the time. What was once a skill-intensive, bespoke field – painting – here becomes a manufactured product, available to all. Consider too the labor behind the scenes, the photographers, the darkroom technicians, and the distribution networks that put this image in the hands of eager consumers. The image represents not only the Austrian landscape, but also a new means of representing and experiencing the world through mass production.