Untitled (man sitting at desk and smoking a pipe) c. 1948

Editor: This is Jack Gould's "Untitled (man sitting at desk and smoking a pipe)," from the Harvard Art Museums. The negative image gives the photograph an eerie, almost dreamlike quality. What strikes you when you look at it? Curator: It's like looking at a memory, isn't it? The reversed tones create a sense of distance, of something half-remembered. The man, pipe in mouth, seems lost in thought, maybe wrestling with some weighty decision. Does it make you wonder what he's pondering? Editor: Absolutely! It's like a still from a film noir, full of unspoken tension. Curator: Perhaps Gould was capturing that very mood, the quiet intensity of a moment. A fleeting glimpse into a man's inner world, now frozen in time. Editor: I see it now. The reversed tones heighten the sense of introspection. Curator: Exactly! It's the art of capturing the invisible. Makes you think about the untold stories behind every face, doesn't it?