Gezicht op Interlaken, met op de achtergrond de Jungfrau c. 1860 - 1880

Editor: So, here we have a photograph from sometime between 1860 and 1880, "Gezicht op Interlaken, met op de achtergrond de Jungfrau" – or "View of Interlaken, with the Jungfrau in the Background," by Florentin Charnaux, made with an albumen print. There's a stillness and almost dreamlike quality to the town nestled under the mountains. What stands out to you, viewing it through a historical lens? Curator: What jumps out is the interplay between romanticism and nascent tourism. Consider the social function of these albumen prints at this time. These views became increasingly accessible, commodified, reproduced. Did the rise of tourism shape how people understood or even altered the physical space of Interlaken and the Swiss Alps? Editor: I hadn't considered that. Were these photos also influencing the perception of Switzerland, marketing a particular vision? Curator: Precisely. This photograph romanticizes a place, feeding into desires for escape, adventure, and the picturesque. How might the locals view these prints? Were they participating in the creation of the 'Swiss' image for tourists, or did they see this as an outside interpretation? We must ask questions of cultural production to be critical viewers. Editor: So it’s more than just a pretty picture, but about the shaping of an identity through tourism. I guess photography was really essential to the growth of the area's cultural visibility in the later 19th Century! Curator: Absolutely. Thinking about visual culture as constructed for popular audiences really changes how we look at this, and any, image. Editor: Thanks, I'll be thinking about that for a while! Curator: And that reflection will hopefully lead to even more questions, which is exactly where art historical understanding starts.