Waterval in Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe c. 1870 - 1890

Curator: Ah, this photograph whispers of another time. This is Johan Nöhring's "Waterval in Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe," dating roughly from 1870 to 1890. What do you make of it? Editor: I feel a curious mix of grandeur and melancholy looking at it. The long exposure softens everything, making the waterfall seem like a misty dream. A landscape embalmed! Curator: The printing process would have been a key part of that effect. Given the period and the visual evidence, it was most likely an Albumen print. Editor: I can almost feel the slick texture. I can see how crucial the mass production of those prints was in distributing romantic notions of landscape, of nature made picturesque through engineering – all those rocks staged just so! Curator: Exactly. And Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe was conceived as precisely that kind of designed landscape, an assertion of aristocratic control over nature manifested through both water management and the labor involved in its construction and constant upkeep. Editor: Right. Water is always labor. This park as spectacle... it kind of reminds me of those massive landscape paintings from the Hudson River School, but caught in a moment by the camera. It’s interesting to me to think of the consumer enjoying this image then too. Curator: Certainly a connection there. And Nöhring, operating from his studio in Lübeck, mass produced images that both documented and promoted the site, turning a landscape of aristocratic power into a consumable commodity. That’s where value lies for a huge variety of interested patrons, I expect. Editor: So, instead of just encountering this scene physically, this way to own a personal replica speaks to me too. Though aged, you know, seeing all the details faded. What a time. Curator: Indeed, considering all the inputs is crucial here. Editor: A manufactured sublime. Gives me a strange feeling...