Gezicht op een besneeuwd landschap before 1900

Here's Ritter von Dobrzanski’s photographic image, “Gezicht op een besneeuwd landschap”, made using photographic techniques. Photography holds a complicated position in art history. Although it uses a machine, the photographer’s hand is crucial. Here, the sharp, almost etched quality of the trees against the snowy field suggests careful attention to the light. But the image would have also relied on others’ labor to produce. The making of photographic materials, and the development and printing of images, involved many hands in a complex industrialized system. This is easily overlooked when viewing the final product. Paying attention to such production methods opens the way for understanding photography as a material practice, just as much as an artistic one. It challenges the hierarchy between art, craft, and industry.