Untitled
Bruce Davidson
American, born 1933
1959
A gelatin silver print that records two young people on a beach—one wrapped in a towel and smoking—made to convey the unruly intimacy and resilience of postwar youth.
The woman's direct, almost confrontational gaze and the tight cropping draw you into a sandy, tactile scene of wet hair, a cigarette held mid-gesture, and a recumbent companion whose wary expression amplifies the picture's close, documentary immediacy.
Part of Davidson's late-1950s work around Coney Island, the photograph helped push documentary photography toward immersive, empathetic portraits of everyday communities and influenced later generations of street and social photographers.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
6 3/4 × 10" (17.1 × 25.4 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Purchase
Accession
238.1964
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
