History has always been something worthy of attention for me. I liked to look at the pictures in my history books in school, trying to guess what it was there, on the reprints of those decayed rolls of a papyrus, yellowed from time. The curiosity, which is so peculiar for some little boys, always kept me away from reading an explanation below the picture. I tried to guess first, and, only then, read and check if I was right or wrong, and I’d get either a satisfaction of the feeling of how smart I was or a big disappointment from realizing that I am still not as perfect at8 as I would like to be.
We always look at the picture, and only after a brief look go deeper into the topic. We do this when, for example, we get a new issue of the “New York Times” paper every morning. We do exactly the same thing when we buy a new “Rolling Stones” magazine- “Who‘s on the cover today? Oh, Ryan Adams? The editors do pretty good job!”. That is called “the power” of a picture, of an image, and of art.
What is art for us? At its core, art is the product of process of deliberately arranging symbolic elements in a way that influences the senses, emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and models of expression, including music, literature, sculpture, paintings, and photography. Why did I put “photography” at the very end of that list? There are a few reasons. It is quite new compared to the other embodiments of art, and about art of photography I would like to talk a little bit tonight.
We know our past because of the variety of masterpieces of art, which all are a heritage of the human civilization. This fact goes without saying, even though we do not think about it daily. We know the past through its pieces of art. We literally see the past through the art of photography.
The photo above belongs to Henry Peach Robinson, and was taken in 1885. It is called “Down and Dusk”. I think the photo gives everyone an opportunity to change the title. I would do it, since I cannot see anything in the photo that I could apply to either “down” or “dusk”. Maybe, the photographer saw something else. He obviously thought and saw something, if he named his photo in this way. That is the point - we look for a description, and we think off a denotation. A photo is a perfect object for practicing these 2 ways of the perception. “Down and Dusk” is my choice FOR WHAT?.
I chose this picture because I like to look and follow a silent action on the photo. The silent flow of the life of the past days is what I always look for and enjoy looking at. The pictures that have a lot of things going on, where many people are doing something, surrounded by a variety of different things give us information, that we cannot get from a portrait or a scenery.
I will try to describe this photo in those two aspects of the observation and the denotation. When we look at some painting or a photo, one question usually arises - “What do we see?”. An old man and a woman attracts first attention. The man’s face is hidden, so we can only guess about his feelings and emotions. This is one more advantage of this photo - the author did not focus on the faces and left us an opportunity to pay attention to the details, not only to the faces. His daughter (or maybe his wife) is sitting in front of him and holding her baby. Take a brief look at the room, . there is a big chimney, and it seems that there is a fire there. This gives us a reason to assume, that these people may live in some northern European country, like England, Scotland, or Norway. However, fresh flowers on the windowsill do not look natural then. Maybe those flowers are just ikebana, and their leaves and petals have been simply frozen since the warm summer? We will never know.
Let’s go back to the people. There is a chair with a bowl of warm water and a piece of soap on it right in between the man and the woman with her baby. What does it mean? A young lady just gave her baby a bath, and now she’s trying to make it sleep. What about the old man? He might feel dumpish, to realize that his daughter is adult, that she has her own child, because it means, that his own life, his best years, are left behind. He might think of, what to say to his daughter, so that she would have what to share with her family when time comes. If I were to give this photo a name, I would call it “Crossroads of thе generations”.
This picture is not the best one in the Harry Ransom Center, yet it is the most vivid for me. It can teach me a lot, and I like to learn. Thank you Н.Р.Robinson for such a great piece of photographic art.
Notes:
Be sure to double space
Your overall tone is sometimes too informal/conversational. Pretend that you’re writing a formal letter instead of giving an informal speech to a group of friends.
Overall, this is a wonderful read.
Upon finishing, I still don’t feel like you give a solid rationale for why you chose the photo?? You explain in the second to last sentence, but I crave more. After all of that wonderful introduction about the impact of photography, I need you to connect the dots between that little boy guessing the history book photos and the person you are now, looking at this image. What do you feel?
Great work Dima.