Untitled (man jumping high into the air next to a piano) c. 1950

Editor: Here we have an untitled photograph by Jack Gould of a man leaping next to a piano. The image is small, almost intimate, but the energy is explosive! What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: Oh, the sheer joy of it! It’s like the music itself has taken flight. And the fact that it's a small, unassuming photo only amplifies the surprise. What do you think he's jumping *from*, literally or figuratively? Editor: Perhaps leaping from the constraints of the piano, or from the expected decorum? Curator: Exactly! It’s a visual poem about breaking free, wouldn’t you say? Maybe even a self-portrait, the artist taking a leap of faith. Editor: I love that idea. It's like he's conducting his own liberation. Curator: Precisely! Art is sometimes an act of defiant joy.