Place du Caroussel in Parijs met voorbijgangers, paardenkoetsen en een paardentram c. 1880 - 1900

Curator: This photograph captures the Place du Carrousel in Paris, likely taken between 1880 and 1900. The photographer is noted as "X Phot," so sadly remains anonymous. It's a gelatin-silver print. Editor: The first thing that strikes me is how desolate the place seems, even with the suggestion of activity. It's a muted palette, a study in greys, really, and that creates this quiet stillness despite the hustle and bustle implied by the horse-drawn carriages. Curator: Gelatin-silver prints were a standard process for achieving high detail and tonal range in photography. Its mass production made possible photographic representations of city life like this one, creating and feeding a public desire for images of an increasingly accessible Paris. Editor: I'm interested in the way the horse-drawn carriages become symbols. It suggests not just transport but also social status, the transition into modern mobility contrasting with the classical architecture surrounding them. What does it tell us about hierarchy and progress in the Belle Époque? Curator: Indeed. The material reality is fascinating here too; consider the labor involved in maintaining this square. The cobblestone streets, the construction of the buildings, and the vehicles themselves – all products of industrial effort and contributing to Paris' evolving identity and consumable image. Editor: The composition is so well thought-out, everything guides your eye toward the center and that architectural mass is imbued with a historical presence. You almost feel a sense of foreboding, with the shadow of history hanging heavy on the figures in the square. Is the modern encroaching, or being absorbed by the weight of the past? Curator: Considering its photographic origins, I wonder about the practical aspects of creating the work itself: The logistics of transporting equipment, capturing a moment, mass printing... each step implicates human skill and the technologies that underpin their dissemination. The material print and the scene become entwined in production processes. Editor: It’s quite compelling when you consider it like that! Seeing it now makes you consider all the layers: symbolism in every object and person, materiality rooted in the real world, the past melding with what will inevitably be the future of the place and time depicted. Curator: The ways photographic reproducibility facilitated a kind of commodification of Parisian experiences truly changed not just who could envision it, but also in very concrete terms, how it functioned, what materials were used and circulated through that transformation. Thank you for seeing it that way with me.