Gezicht op Mont-Dore en de omliggende bergen 1899

Curator: This is a photograph entitled "Gezicht op Mont-Dore en de omliggende bergen," which translates to "View of Mont-Dore and the surrounding mountains." It was captured in 1899 using the gelatin-silver print method. Editor: Mmm, it's incredibly evocative. The whole scene has this beautiful, almost ethereal quality to it, like looking at a memory fading at the edges. Sepia tones amplify that feeling. I mean, doesn’t it almost seem like a dream? Curator: Precisely! This landscape falls neatly into pictorialism, a movement where photography strived to be recognised as fine art. Notice how Delizy subtly manipulates the print, lending the image that painterly, dreamlike mood you sensed. The romantic lens accentuates the grandeur of nature. Editor: It makes me wonder, though. What did people think back then of landscape photos styled as dreamy visions? It’s like two different desires fighting each other, isn't it: The desire to faithfully document reality, and another one that's trying to escape reality with this idealized romantic take. Curator: That tension, I think, defines early photography! While documentary photography sought truth, pictorialism aspired to art, reshaping perceptions of photography and nature itself. Back then, art institutions were hesitant, leading photographers to create their own salons. It shows a real struggle for recognition and value within cultural spheres. Editor: Funny, it still sort of reflects the internal struggles within art. Isn't all creation a dance between truth and illusion, the document and the dream? Maybe that's why I love its dreamy nature. Curator: Indeed. Examining Delizy's piece through the lens of photographic history teaches us so much. We realize photography wasn't always about immediate capture. It was a crafted medium, and also it helped establish art’s changing values in the late 19th century. Editor: You are right, and looking closely at the mountains, I feel like I am there, in this landscape! What else can we say but…beautiful and thought-provoking!