New York gezien vanaf het R.C.A. Building (tegenwoording GE Building), onderdeel van het Rockefeller Center, Verenigde Staten 1936

Curator: This photograph, taken in 1936 by Wouter Cool, offers a glimpse of New York City from the R.C.A. Building, now known as the GE Building. It's a monochrome cityscape that really captures a moment in time. Editor: My first impression is one of muted majesty, everything feels slightly veiled in mist. It’s the kind of view that makes you feel like you're holding a secret. All these stone and metal behemoths pressing to pierce the clouds... what does it mean? Curator: The way the buildings rise out of what looks like a grey haze speaks to the era. The modernist drive toward progress is almost battling against the gloom. Editor: Exactly, it's not just buildings; it's an assertion, like saying, "We are here, and we are reaching." Even though there's a certain flatness to the photograph, there is some interplay here between aspiration, captured so clearly by the spire of the Empire State Building piercing through, and what’s left unseen... almost suggesting a collective uncertainty hanging over that era, as captured by the clouds of what looks like rain and soot over this metropolis. Curator: Cool really manages to evoke the scale of New York with these layered skyscrapers, with the Empire State building dominating the shot, of course, immediately grounding you in place. Editor: The use of perspective here is just fascinating. The fog almost abstracts the subject as you glance down from above, like an oracle gazing into the future, hinting at hidden structures, stories, maybe secrets waiting to emerge from the ground fog that has temporarily concealed it all... And, perhaps, a bit of fear: the potential weight and size that this new American hub had suddenly begun accumulating to become the great city of today, but in its humble beginning and captured for the ages. Curator: It’s like seeing a city both emerging and concealing at once. You can sense both optimism and a touch of trepidation woven into its composition. A great shot from Cool, indeed. Editor: Yes, and considering it’s photography, with all its claim to capture and unveil truth, what remains concealed perhaps carries the biggest truth here in its depths and shadows. An elegant paradox, if you will.