Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation #63 1956

Aaron Siskind made this photograph, "Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation #63", using light and shadow to capture a fleeting moment. It's a study in contrasts, with the figure suspended against an empty sky. There's a raw physicality to the image. The body is all angles and tension. Look at the stark contrast between the dark figure and the blank background. It’s as if Siskind is carving the shape out of the void. Notice the way the light catches the cheekbone, the line of the outstretched leg - it's all about the body in motion, pushing against the limitations of gravity. It reminds me of some of the early modernists, like Rodchenko, who were also interested in capturing the dynamism of the human form, but Siskind brings an abstract sensibility to it, too. I think he asks how something so fleeting can feel so full of potential energy.