The folkloristic view of agricultural work

The Hahne Niehoff Archive includes a few photographies with agricultural motifs. They bear witness to the folkloristic focus on rural life: agricultural work was almost exclusively documented in relation to supposedly ancient farming customs and depicted as a traditional country idyll. Social inequality, poverty or child labour in rural areas were neglected, as was the incipient mechanisation of agriculture. Despite this, new types of work processes and equipment can also be found in these photographs. Today, these human-environment relationships have, in turn, long since become historical in nature. In addition, incidentally recorded electricity pylons and cars document the technical change in the countryside.