Blog Post 6

Hello there fellow bloggers!
For this week's assignment I chose a film negative by Walker Evans. It is titled "Cityscape with Step-Back Building", and it was photographed in New York City from a rather high elevation.

This piece shows a dark and dreary New York City right in the middle of The Great Depression (1929-1930). The artist uses two point linear perspective, which we know because we can see the corners of the buildings. Therefore, there are two vanishing points in the photo. The first one is just off the page located down the main avenue on the right of the photo. The second is even more difficult to find, however, it is clearly towards the upper left and if we trace the lines of the buildings and sidewalks we will meet there.

Though "Cityscape" is a photo, the artist nonetheless makes sure to utilize every bit of space. Besides linear perspective, I notice a lot of overlapping. I also love the background used, which showcases relative size / scale. The photo is black and white, which I believe sets the perfect tone for Depression-Era New York City. They may have still been building skyscrapers in 1930, but because of the tremendous poverty, they had an extremely difficult time renting out the offices. It gave an empty, hollow feeling to the big city, one that I think the artist captures wonderfully.