Untitled (road construction) c. 1950

Curator: This is an intriguing gelatin silver print by Jack Gould, currently held in the Harvard Art Museums. It is entitled “Untitled (road construction).” Editor: My first impression is gritty. It’s all hard angles, heavy machinery, and a kind of… hopeful utility? Curator: Yes, there's an undeniable sense of progress and industry. It seems to capture a moment of transformation, very likely a commentary on postwar expansion. Note the Eagle Stamps sign looming overhead. Editor: Ha! Eagle Stamps – a relic of consumer culture watching over the rebuilding efforts. It adds a layer of social irony. Curator: Precisely! Gould’s photograph presents an unsentimental view of progress, one where labor and consumerism coexist, even clash, within the frame. Editor: It makes you wonder about the human cost, doesn't it? That lone worker by the stop sign... he feels dwarfed by the scale of it all. Curator: A vital point. Gould's photograph is not simply a record of construction; it's a document of societal change, captured in a single, powerful image. Editor: It's a slice of life, really. Raw, unglamorous, but undeniably alive. Makes me appreciate the roads I drive on a little more.