Untitled (train wreck) c. 1950

Curator: We’re looking at Jack Gould’s “Untitled (train wreck)” here at the Harvard Art Museums, a gelatin silver print, measuring about 6 x 6 centimeters. Editor: The immediate impression is chaos, a brutal disruption of industrial progress, rendered in stark, almost ghostly tones. Curator: Train wrecks held a strange fascination for the American public, becoming almost a spectacle, a grim reminder of the risks inherent in technological advancement. Editor: The train wreck on the bridge, feels like a potent symbol of thwarted ambition and the fragility of human enterprise against the backdrop of rapid industrial change. It's a modern memento mori. Curator: Indeed. The image's circulation reflects a society grappling with its own technological prowess, yet always aware of its inherent dangers and the potential for catastrophic failure. Editor: A chilling, yet compelling meditation on progress and peril. Curator: A photograph that captures an era's complex relationship with technology.