Five Points, New York c. 1893 - 1932

Alfred Stieglitz made this photograph, Five Points, New York, using gelatin silver. It’s a study in monochrome, a tonal landscape where the gradations are subtle, almost like a whispered conversation in shades of grey. The image pulses with a gritty texture. The cobbled street seems to rise up to meet us. A crowd bunches beneath the sign for the ‘Five Points Clothing House’, and their dark coats create a dense mass against the urban backdrop. You can almost smell the damp earth and feel the chill in the air, can’t you? Look at the way the light falls, how it catches the edges of the buildings and picks out details in the clothing. The whole scene feels both intimate and distant, like a half-remembered dream. It reminds me a little of Eugène Atget, who also captured the poetry of the everyday, turning the ordinary into something extraordinary. Isn’t it interesting how these artists reach across time, speaking to one another through their work? Anyway, what do *you* see here?