Gezicht op de torens van Asinelli en Garisendi te Bologna, Italië 1865 - 1907

Curator: Here we have "Gezicht op de torens van Asinelli en Garisendi te Bologna, Italië," a gelatin-silver print created sometime between 1865 and 1907 by Fotografia dell'Emilia. Editor: What strikes me immediately is this fantastic sense of vertigo. The leaning tower looks like it’s about to topple right out of the frame! Curator: Indeed, the precarious angle of the Garisenda tower creates a compelling tension against the more vertical Asinelli. The photographer uses the rooftops of Bologna as a kind of planar base from which these architectural forms emerge. Editor: I see them almost as figures—these stone giants, overlooking a sleeping city. The tonal range in this gelatin print feels surprisingly modern. There's a misty quality...makes you wonder about the quality of the air at the time. Curator: The atmospheric perspective softens the background, but note how the geometric shapes of the towers themselves retain remarkable clarity. Also, consider the pictorialist style mingling with the stark realism typical of photography from that era. The artist wasn’t only documenting, but also composing. Editor: Makes me think about what's *not* in the frame, too. Who lived in those buildings? What stories unfolded beneath the gaze of these tilted towers? A photo like this almost *begs* for narrative speculation. Curator: And the relationship between form and function interests me. Both towers clearly declare something about the power structures within that historical landscape. Editor: To think people once navigated their lives using these bizarrely shaped landmarks! There’s a touch of magic realism to the whole thing, a kind of fairytale cityscape. Curator: Yes, quite a contrast to the ordered lines and right angles one expects. That asymmetry gives it an enduring visual interest. Editor: Exactly. I might have passed right by if the composition had been more conventional. Those towers, in their near collapse, whisper all sorts of compelling fables to me. Curator: And I find its structural composition and historical record intriguing in equal measure. A well balanced interplay.