Etablissement gelegen aan In den Zelten 2, Großer Tiergarten, Berlijn 1868 - 1870

Editor: Here we have Johann Friedrich Stiehm’s, "Etablissement gelegen aan In den Zelten 2, Großer Tiergarten, Berlijn" dating from 1868-1870. It's a photographic print, sepia-toned. The composition feels very structured; what details strike you? Curator: The symmetry is immediately apparent, isn't it? Observe the repetition of the windows, the even placement of the trees. It lends the photograph a sense of balance, even perhaps, a deliberate stillness. But what of the lines, the structural articulations? Editor: I notice how the bare tree branches contrast with the rigid geometry of the building. It seems intentional, not accidental, but why include both the straight and jagged? Curator: Indeed. The verticality of the trees creates a series of rhythmic intervals, a counterpoint to the horizontal emphasis of the architecture. Does the starkness draw attention, divert the eye perhaps from what the actual establishment might be, or represent? The photographer has used these formal elements, line, shape and contrast to construct this composition. Editor: So the photo's not just about the place, but about Stiehm's artistic arrangement? Curator: Precisely. We must consider the formal vocabulary the artist has employed and examine not what is depicted, but how. Is it the contrasts of sharp and soft or solid and ephemeral which conveys this photo’s artistry? Editor: I never considered the bare branches could be included for their artistic line quality before; it felt like it should represent winter perhaps. Curator: And there we arrive at it: feeling, emotion…these are important components that reside beyond formalism but whose beginnings start with the line, the composition and geometry.