Untitled (photograph of a man with cigar standing in front of other photographs) 1926

This photographic print of a man with a cigar, standing in front of other photographs, was made by Paul Gittings. The image invites us to think about the public role of photography. Here, an elegantly dressed man occupies a gallery space filled with photographic portraits. The cigar he casually holds may suggest the privilege and power associated with wealth in the United States, where Gittings was active during the twentieth century. The space of the gallery itself deserves our attention. How do institutions shape the meaning of art? In the arrangement we see here, photography becomes more than just a tool of documentation: it's presented as something worthy of display, something with artistic value. As art historians, we can use resources like gallery archives, institutional records, and sociological studies to better understand the ways in which photography has been assigned value in American culture. The meaning of this image, like all art, is contingent on the social and institutional context in which it was made and is now displayed.