New York Skyline 1942

Dorothy Norman made this photograph, New York Skyline, and well, it’s photography, so, it’s made with light. The image is almost monochromatic, a study in grays, from the faintest hint of a building in the distance to the solid darkness of the foreground. I love how Norman finds a way to flatten and compress the space here. The dark mass at the front almost collides with the skyline, pushing everything together. It’s a kind of visual sandwich, where the layers are distinct but intimately connected. It makes you wonder, what is progress, what is the new? The Chrysler building, that spire, is so clear, while other forms blend into the mist. It reminds me of Alfred Stieglitz’s photographs, or maybe even some of the German photographers like Albert Renger-Patzsch. There's a conversation happening, across time, about how we see and understand the world around us. The mystery of progress.