Gezicht op het stationsgebouw het stadsdeel Wannsee in Berlijn, Duitsland before 1877

Editor: Here we have an engraving from before 1877, titled "Gezicht op het stationsgebouw het stadsdeel Wannsee in Berlijn, Duitsland"—or "View of the Wannsee train station in Berlin, Germany"— attributed to an anonymous artist and housed at the Rijksmuseum. It's interesting to see such a matter-of-fact rendering of what I assume was, at the time, quite a modern structure. How do you interpret the symbolism within this depiction? Curator: The station itself serves as a powerful symbol of transition, both geographically and socially. Train stations are liminal spaces; gateways connecting one world to another, often embodying hope, fear, and the anxieties of a rapidly changing world. Look at the clarity of the architectural detail in this print. Editor: Yes, there's an incredible precision in the lines and the representation of form. Curator: Exactly! It’s almost clinical. That almost obsessive clarity can signal a deep fascination with progress. Early railways are more than transportation, they embody modernity, technology and order. Note the somewhat sanitized, even sterile portrayal. Where is the life, the bustle, the grit? Its absence, its visual absence makes us look at that carefully staged artificial order with the same eyes as the contemporaries. Editor: That makes sense. It's interesting to think about how the absence of detail, like people, can be as telling as the presence of something. Curator: Indeed. It may hint to the ambivalence and anxiety associated with industrial development during this period. It's as if the artist is showing us the skeleton of modernity, leaving us to contemplate its soul. Editor: Well, that certainly offers a different way of seeing this image than just a straightforward architectural record. I never considered how potent the absence of certain details might be! Curator: Precisely. The silences in an image can speak volumes about the cultural narratives and unspoken anxieties that underpin it.