Erezaal in het Duitse paviljoen tijdens de Wereldtentoonstelling te Parijs in 1900 before 1901

This black and white photograph by Lévy Fils et Cie captures the German pavilion at the 1900 Paris World Fair. I’m wondering what it was like for this photographer to wander through the fair? Did they feel overwhelmed by all the architecture, sculpture, and painting squeezed into one place? Perhaps they were like, “How do I make sense of it all?” I bet they felt the same way I do when I'm in the studio, trying to wrangle all the marks into something cohesive. You see the murals up top? I wonder if those painters ever saw this photograph of their work, or if the photographer gave the painters a second thought. The photo becomes a painting of a painting. How great is that? It’s like one big conversation across time, with each artist responding to what came before, using whatever tools they have on hand.