Hartford Newsboys 1909

Lewis Hine made this gelatin silver print, Hartford Newsboys, at an unknown date. The photograph has a certain flatness, and it’s not just the limited gray scale, but it has a sense of every element being given the same weight, a kind of evenness. There’s a gentle tonality, that doesn’t highlight anything in particular. And of course, it’s those stacks of newspapers that steal your attention. They look so crisp and new, like they’ve just come off the press. They stand out in the scene because they’re white, or near white, whereas everything else is so dark. Newspapers are literally the means to disseminate information, right? But they are also how these kids make money, how they survive. Hine’s work reminds me of the photographs of Walker Evans, both seeking to document a certain part of society. But, like any work of art, Hartford Newsboys, is more than just a record, it’s a picture of a moment, a mood, a story, a history.