Lower East Side, New York City, 3rd Avenue 1947

This photograph, Lower East Side, New York City, 3rd Avenue, was captured by Godfrey Frankel sometime in the mid-twentieth century. It’s a silver gelatin print, which gives it that dreamy, high-contrast look. I’m drawn to the grittiness of the scene – the elevated train tracks cutting across the sky, the ‘Help Wanted’ signs in the windows, and the ‘Lucky Open Kitchen’ sign. It feels like a time capsule. Look at the way Frankel plays with light and shadow. The textures of the buildings, the street, the cars, all rendered in shades of gray, create a rich, almost tactile experience. The composition is so clever, with the dark mass of the elevated train framing the more detailed scene below. It’s like looking through a viewfinder within the viewfinder. It reminds me a little of Walker Evans' starkness, but with a touch more intimacy. There is so much to read into a scene like this, what does this all mean? Maybe it is not meant to mean one thing. Ambiguity allows us to bring ourselves to the work and see a myriad of possibilities.