Gezicht op Schreiberhau 1891

Curator: Welcome! Here we have "Gezicht op Schreiberhau", a gelatin silver print created around 1891. It captures a sweeping vista of a town nestled amongst rolling hills. Editor: The first thing that strikes me is the way the photographer used a high vantage point, which leads the eye so deliberately. There's a remarkable sense of depth and almost ethereal quality. Curator: The late 19th century saw a surge of interest in landscape photography, partly fueled by urbanization and a romanticized yearning for untouched nature. Locations such as Schreiberhau, known today as Szklarska Poręba, were becoming popular tourist destinations in Imperial Germany. Editor: Right, and if we look at the tonal range, there’s an almost painterly manipulation. The darks aren't truly black, more of a sepia tone overall creating soft, diffused light and highlighting different surface textures and edges across the plane of the image. Curator: Exactly. The photographer’s fingerprints were all over the process in this pictorialist moment. They would retouch and manipulate the negative to soften detail, focusing on atmosphere rather than absolute clarity to suggest artistic effects, an aesthetic positioning against mass produced photographs. This kind of photograph appealed to a rising middle class, keen to embrace culture and improve their social standing through such artful imagery. Editor: This reminds me about formalism. Observe the arrangement of forms—the dark slope of the hill creates a counterpoint to the detailed town, balancing and structuring the image. Light and shadow aren’t just mimetic here but act as abstract forms guiding our gaze. Curator: A beautiful intersection then, the formalism underscores what society was responding to during the emergence of modernity and modern tourism in the region. A crafted response to place, space, and industry. Editor: I see it all very differently now, the way the image, rather like musical phrasing, allows that tension, or even, release! Curator: Absolutely, seeing these historical documents allows us new insights and awareness of what lies before us.