Gezicht op een straat in Sankt Blasien 1893

This is an albumen print by H. Kaiser, showing a street view in Sankt Blasien. The inscription '1893' suggests its date. The image presents a grand hotel, its architecture a statement of bourgeois aspiration, rising above the street. It visually encapsulates a moment in the social history of leisure. Sankt Blasien, identified as 'Bad. Schwarzwald,' was part of a network of spa towns catering to an increasingly mobile and moneyed elite. The photographer, H. Kaiser, operated a 'Photogr. Atelier' and was part of an emerging industry, whose business model depended on the growth of tourism and the democratization of portraiture. What do these images tell us about the aspirations of late 19th century German society? How do they reflect changing patterns of leisure and consumption? These are questions we can begin to explore through careful attention to visual and textual evidence, drawing on archives, newspapers, and other resources to reconstruct the world in which this image was made and consumed.