Untitled
Bruce Davidson
American, born 1933
1959
A black-and-white gelatin silver photograph in which Davidson isolates a boy standing atop a metal jungle gym at night to reveal the tense, theatrical quality of urban adolescence.
What hits you is the high-contrast drama—the luminous grid of the climbing frame rising out of deep blackness with a lone figure crowned at the top while two others slump in shadow, giving the scene an eerie, cinematic stillness.
Taken during Davidson’s late-1950s explorations of youth, this work helped shift documentary photography toward intimate, psychological portraits of everyday communities and strengthened street photography’s narrative, emotional reach.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
6 3/4 × 10" (17.1 × 25.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
231.1964
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
