Exterieur van een huis te Rennes 1870 - 1890

Curator: I am immediately drawn to the texture! This old photograph feels so rich with details; it's tactile despite being a two-dimensional image. Editor: Agreed. The way the light catches the facade, giving the timber framing this near palpable presence. Let’s contextualize. This is a print of a photograph, believed to have been taken between 1870 and 1890 by Mèdèric Mieusement. The Rijksmuseum holds it in their collection, aptly named "Exterior of a house in Rennes.” Curator: I love Rennes. Is it the building near the cathedral, or am I just making that up? Anyway, there's this cozy, almost hobbit-like feel, despite the obviously monumental architecture nearby. Editor: You are spot on. The photo is labeled “Maison pres la Cathédrale”. It makes you consider the labor involved in such detailed woodwork, doesn't it? How many hands shaped these beams, fitted the glass? It really emphasizes the value once placed in construction, where craftsmanship took pride of place. Curator: Exactly. It brings to mind those medieval guilds, passing down their knowledge of techniques to each other in Rennes, a very historical city. A photo, you know, flattens things. What feels grand in real life becomes compressed. How did the photographer mediate those inherent distortions to convey the reality and its sense of weight, I mean…what would the inhabitants make of their representation as an image? Editor: Mieusement would likely have chosen his angle and lens with deliberation to address the spatial depth and texture, but I see what you mean. The technology inevitably alters it but it can be used to elevate humble construction. Curator: Absolutely, it’s that sense of transformation and alchemy that really gets to me, the power the camera held and still holds! The house standing unchanged against time. Editor: Mieusement’s documentation reminds us to appreciate not just the aesthetic, but also the lives intertwined with this structure and its time. A humble frame opens endless horizons.