Gezicht op Obernai before 1894

Curator: This photographic print, titled “Gezicht op Obernai”, was created by Charles Bernhoeft, likely before 1894. Its monochrome palette lends a certain timelessness. Editor: Yes, that timelessness… at first glance, it evokes a rather stark, almost clinical stillness, don't you think? Like an abandoned theatre set—rows and rows of barren vines in the foreground. Curator: Precisely. Note how those rigid, vertical lines of the vineyard structure the composition. They lead our eye upwards and create a subtle barrier before revealing the town itself. Observe also the stark contrast in textures between foreground and background. Editor: Those vines become symbolic, almost prison bars… obscuring our easy enjoyment of the picturesque town. It makes you wonder who exactly *is* kept out, and for what reasons? Is this pristine image merely aesthetic, or is it also an exclusion? Curator: One could argue that the composition itself— the ordering of elements, from dark to light—is what’s most critical here. The muted greys evoke a contemplative mood, pulling back the visual rhetoric away from anything potentially sentimental. Editor: While technically competent, that choice also deprives us of information, doesn't it? What kind of social dynamic, class tension or civic participation existed in this town at this moment in history? The photographic choices flatten this into something without substance, without agency. Curator: But think about the precision evident in capturing the architectural details, particularly that of the church. Editor: True, yet in so valorizing architecture, it simultaneously occludes people—people whose lived experiences were inseparable from the sociopolitical implications of citizenship, industrial output and rural identities in the late nineteenth century. Curator: Well, I think that Bernhoeft successfully demonstrates through the strategic manipulation of visual depth and tonal range the inherent capacity of early photography to convey a powerful sense of space. Editor: For me, those formal strategies create questions and omissions that haunt this otherwise picturesque view of Obernai. It reveals as much through what's present, as through what has been conspicuously elided from view.