P I E R R O T C L I M B I N G T H R O U G H A W I N D O W
F E L I X N A D A R 1 8 5 4
The long exposure time required in the early days
of photography made staged action shots such
as this near impossible.
The deep shadows created from loose-fitting clothing
adds to the picture a sculptural quality.
A L F R E D L O R D T E N N Y S O N
J U L I A M A R G A R E T C A M E R O N 1 8 6 9
Tennyson titled this picture of himself as
The Dirty Monk - tired, unkempt and brooding.
Tennyson went about his business of being
the nation's poet laureate while attired
in a romantic's cloak.
O S I P B R I K
A L E X A N D E R R O D C H E N K O 1 9 2 4
Rodchenko wanted people to see objects anew.
His photography involved making the familiar strange.
Here a friend's head barely fits into the portrait space.
A Russian logo is double-exposed over one eye.
The result is an image suited to be posted
as promotion for some Orwellian venture.
T H E G R A D U A T I N G C L A S S
F R A N K E U G E N E 1 9 1 3
We're not documenting students graduating.
Look at the mood. Artistic manipulation.
Ladies posed to perfection under soft lights.
Eugene displays a painter's dreamworld
through his photographer's lens.
C R I S S - C R O S S E D C O N V EY O R S
C H A R L E S S H E E L E R 1 9 2 7
Sheeler was enthralled by the precision of machinery
and the logic of industrial order. The opportunity
to photograph Ford's giant River Rouge factory was,
for Sheeler, like being given a tour of the future.
Here was technological utopia laid out before him.
Here was our substitute for religious experience.
Intoxicating.
O L D T I M E R S T R U C T U R A L W O R K E R
L E W I S H I N E 1 9 3 0
Hines referred to them as sky boys -
the workers he photographed laboring
to build the 102 story Empire State Building.
It was his testament to the heroic nature of
modern industrial man.
* * * * *
OVER EASY
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