Boy + Girl + Swing, New York c. 1955 - 1989

Curator: We're looking at William Klein's gelatin silver print, "Boy + Girl + Swing, New York," believed to be captured sometime between 1955 and 1989. Editor: The contrast! The harsh blacks and stark whites... It almost feels confrontational, like an intrusion on a candid moment. There's a certain rawness. Curator: Indeed. Klein's work is characterized by such directness. Notice the composition. The boy, seemingly mid-scream on the swing, occupies the upper half, almost cropped off. And then, the girl below. Editor: Her dress looks handmade, perhaps reflecting the limited access to manufactured clothes for families. I think it speaks to a post-war material landscape, and those scuffed shoes... that's life lived in public. It’s interesting to consider the labor involved in raising children within a bustling metropolis, where the act of play is visible. Curator: Yes, it complicates that immediate sense of youthful freedom. The graininess, deliberately unrefined, adds to this effect. Klein disrupts any notions of the perfect, staged image. Editor: The photograph's materiality interests me most. Gelatin silver prints became dominant through the mid-20th-century due to their relative cheapness and speed of production. What appear as aesthetic choices also mirror pragmatic constraints faced by artists then. It’s interesting that an industrial method could capture such unique human feeling. Curator: The tilted angle certainly breaks convention and introduces dynamism to a seemingly static scene. One is made aware of one's looking, one is drawn in for questioning. Editor: Definitely, I am also thinking about this space between candid capture versus constructed realities. Perhaps this can be further considered via an engagement with Klein's overall intentions around accessibility in production during the 20th Century. Curator: A valid consideration, focusing then, also on what might otherwise go unseen. Editor: Absolutely. There is depth and a need to rethink how the image was put together in relation to material histories.