Untitled (man in plaid coat and hat looking in mirror) c. 1947

Editor: This small, square photograph by Jack Gould captures a man in a plaid coat gazing into a mirror. It's a very striking composition in black and white. What do you notice about the use of reflection in this piece? Curator: The inverted tonal scale draws attention to the geometry of the composition. Note the stark, almost brutalist, architecture versus the subtle plaid patterns. Do you see how the mirroring creates a doubling, a play between surface and depth, reality and representation? Editor: Yes, it's like the man is confronting his own image, a twin that's slightly altered. I hadn't considered the architectural aspect, though. Curator: It's crucial to examine how Gould manipulates light and shadow to flatten and then re-inflate space. The textures are flattened to the point that they create a powerful abstract plane. Editor: That's fascinating. I'm now viewing the work in an entirely different way. Curator: The artist creates a tension between the figure and the ground, and through that tension, meaning arises.