Brooklyn Public Library c. 20th century

Curator: Harry Sternberg’s wood engraving, "Brooklyn Public Library," uses high contrast imagery to powerful effect. Editor: It feels like a dream, or maybe a slightly menacing fairytale, with the angels and tumbling books. Curator: The angels and sun motif above the library's name reference classical allegory, but the silhouetted figure walking toward the open doorway, framed by chaotic stacks, hints at the library's potentially disruptive power. Editor: Right, the books are almost attacking, overwhelming the figure! Visually, the library’s architecture seems to contain, and yet release knowledge in equal measure. It’s a very potent symbol. Curator: It speaks to how public institutions, even those promoting literacy, can reflect societal anxieties about who has access to knowledge and what they do with it. Editor: Sternberg really captured the simultaneous promise and potential chaos inherent in the pursuit of learning. Curator: Exactly. These visual paradoxes are worth pondering.