New York c. 1938 - 1939

Curator: This is Helen Levitt's "New York," a gelatin silver print probably taken around 1938 or 1939. The texture created by the printing process really draws me in. What's your first impression? Editor: Stark elegance, like a forgotten film still. It evokes the quiet, almost melancholic, glamor of that era, don't you think? They're suspended, waiting for something just beyond the frame. Curator: Absolutely. Levitt was really capturing New York City street life, but with a focus on everyday class distinctions. It's there in the fur, the hats...the trappings of femininity and social identity. Editor: You know, I am fascinated by their expressions. Almost weary, lost in their own thoughts as the world bustles past. I imagine that carriage being incredibly loud, cold and uncomfortable, juxtaposed by what their dresses and accessories imply. Curator: The materiality tells that story! That harsh reality contrasts the dreams fostered through advertisements or the movies of the time. It's social commentary through the everyday and in the composition. This specific shot could have only been obtained by taking pictures on location instead of posed models, creating something akin to ‘realism’. Editor: Indeed! It’s amazing that such quiet scene can contain so many complexities. I see vulnerability beneath the performance of respectability and those adornments are also a social armour. Curator: I think Levitt was subtly drawing our attention to that very negotiation between internal feelings and outward presentation. Editor: Seeing this through a 21st-century lens really drives home the importance of archival photography like this. Curator: It makes you reflect on the role photography plays in the historical record and memory making, especially about how materials shape its very form and substance. Editor: Well, this certainly has transported me and that materiality you talk about anchors this moment in reality even as my mind wanders around it! Curator: It makes us more observant and engaged in understanding of social identities as historically constructed.