Luminous Cities

Edward Steichen, The Flatiron Building, New York City, 1905

I have always loved the city: give me concrete; give me smog; give me the wail of sirens in the distance! A big city never fails to make me feel alive; I love the hum of the streets, the endless headlights and tail-lights, and the lonely sound of car horns in the darkness.

So I was not sorry last Friday, unable to see two fashion exhibitions that had closed, when I found myself viewing this photography exhibition Luminous Cities at the National Gallery of Victoria instead.

I was most drawn to this 1905 image of New York’s Flatiron Building by Edward Steichen (above). It’s a wet winter evening, dusk is falling and the atmospheric effect creates a beautiful mood. It immediately made me think of a Georges Seurat charcoal drawing. 

Eugène Atget: Coin de la rue Valette et Pantheon, 5e arrondissement, matinee de mars, 1925

I have long been an admirer of Eugène Atget’s photography, and this image of an empty Parisian street (above) that looks to be shrouded in fog is full of quiet mystery.

Another favourite was Paul Strand’s image of Fifth Avenue (below). I love the considered composition: the people so insignificant under that great, empty sky; the flagpole and the church spires meeting in a point. Of course I also like the fashionable note of the three young women’s plumed hats in the foreground. The fact that they are peeking back at the photographer makes the image so much more fascinating. Without that touch, the image would have been far more impersonal; they are warm and alive even uder that enormous, impassive sky.

These views of streets, both crowded and empty beckon me within, into a world long-gone; into a culture and society made foreign, exotic, by time. We’re lucky to have such little windows into these old worlds. 

The exhibition continues until 13 March. 

Paul Strand, Fifth Avenue, New York City, 1915