Bevroren waterval in de Verenigde Staten c. 1880 - 1900

Curator: Look at this arresting image! This is "Bevroren waterval in de Verenigde Staten," or "Frozen Waterfall in the United States," an albumen print made sometime between 1880 and 1900 by George Fiske. Editor: Frozen is right! It feels like I'm shivering just looking at it. The monochrome adds to that stark, icy feeling. It's kind of magnificent and a little bleak. Curator: It is compelling, especially when we consider the labor involved. Albumen prints required meticulous preparation, from coating paper with egg whites to lengthy exposure times in the field, all to capture these monumental natural features. Editor: Right! It's a real feat to lug all that equipment up there in the cold. I see something more than just labor too; it’s like Fiske captured the soul of winter, not just the look of it. Do you think he meant it as a statement on American expansion into wild spaces? Curator: It certainly participates in the visual rhetoric of westward expansion and the picturesque landscape tradition. The technology also played a part in the romantic style through its tonal qualities. Fiske clearly understood how albumen printing, which came at a material cost to him and others in the photographic ecosystem, enhanced the grandeur of the scene. The question remains how that production affected subject perception and reception in his day, but the economic elements certainly must have mattered. Editor: Absolutely! To the contemporary eye, the effect is dramatic. The waterfall appears almost suspended, defying gravity, yet it's undeniably frozen in time, both literally and artistically. It really underscores the fragile beauty of these places we call the American West. It does inspire thought! Curator: I find it insightful to think of the many hands that contributed to a single photographic artwork. This, in turn, opens conversations about commodification, the role of visual art, and how we shape or alter those environments through this work. Editor: Exactly, and that makes this frozen waterfall still flow with meaning today.