No. 181. Marshall Ave. Bridge, Minneapolis & St. Paul 1889

Curator: Right, here we have Henry P. Bosse's cyanotype photograph, “No. 181. Marshall Ave. Bridge, Minneapolis & St. Paul,” created in 1889. What strikes you initially? Editor: It feels like looking at a memory, something distant and watery. That single color makes it so ethereal. It's haunting, almost dreamlike, in the way that a half-remembered landscape floats in your mind. Curator: Indeed. The cyanotype process itself contributes to that. The cool blue monochrome lends it that nostalgic feeling you describe so well. In many ways, the color alone turns something as solid as a bridge into something fragile, perhaps fleeting. Look at the form presented, though. Bridges signify so much to human life, even subconsciously. Editor: Absolutely. The bridge is like an emotional connective tissue. A way of overcoming divides, whether literal or metaphorical. But, within the single-color image, I think it also acts as a symbol of progress versus the natural world—that almost geometric, metallic bridge in such soft, rounded surrounding. Do you think that interplay reflects anything about the era in which Bosse made this piece? Curator: Most assuredly. It was an age of great industrial advancement but also an increasing awareness of its effect on the environment. Notice the almost scientific approach, too. The work is labeled "No. 181", indicating a larger series; the title is explicit. Bosse was trained as a civil engineer. His perspective would likely include not just appreciation of natural beauty but a fascination with human innovations, framed inside of a natural environment. Editor: Right, and thinking about what it means to document that innovation—bridges also reflect our constant drive towards... somewhere else. Curator: A potent point! In this context, what is "somewhere else" and what it means to that observer or to we viewers today. What is it you consider on the other side? Editor: Well, thinking about the history imbued in visual language makes the bridge such an important symbol. As for now, the bridge reminds me to consider the legacy being crafted around myself. What are you connecting? Curator: Yes! In its direct, yet artful imagery, Bosse delivers just that, an open passage into a world rapidly transforming, now reflected toward our very selves, and ourselves reflected toward it. I find this work invites many such reflections and provides an ever-relevant lens to do so.